George  Washington  Flowers 
Memorial  Collection 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


ESTABLISHED  BY  THE 
FAMILY  OF 
COLONEL  FLOWERS 


^  l)0ice  from  Connecticut ; 


OCCASIONED  BY 


THE  LATE  PASTORAL  LETTER 


OF  THE 


BISHOP  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

TO  THE 

CLERGY  AND  LAITY  OF  HIS  DIOCESE. 


BY  THE  REV. 

SAMUEL  FARMAR  JARVIS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

WITH  THE  APPROBATION  OF  THE 

BISHOP  OF  CONNECTICUT. 


HARTFORD : 
PUBLISHED  BY  A.  C.  GOODMAN  &  CO. 

8TKAM  PRESS  OF  J.«AYLORD  WELLS. 

DECEMBER,  MDCCCXLIX. 


%  boicc  from  €onnecticttt; 

OCCASIONED  BY 

THE  LATE  PASTORAL  LETTER 

OF  THE 

BISHOP  OF  NORTH  CAEOLINA 

TO  THE 

CLERGY  AND  LAITY  OF  HIS  DIOCESE. 

BY  THE  REV. 

SAMUEL  FARMAR  JARVIS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

WITH  THE  API'ROBATIOX  OK  THK 

BISHOP  OF  CONNECTICUT. 


HARTFORD : 
PUBLISHED  BY  A.  C.  GOODMAN  &  CO. 

STEAM  PRESS  OF  J.  (iAYLORD  WELLS. 


DECEMBER,  MOCCCXLIX. 


Entered  according  to  Act  «  ("  Congress,  in  the  year  1849, 
By  A  .  C  .  G  O  0  D  xM  A  N  CO., 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  ike 
District  of  Connecticut. 


THE  FLOWERS  COLLECTION 


CONTENTS. 


I. 

The  Power  and  Limits  of  Priestly  Absolution. 

Xn  the  state  of  nature  no  Absolution.  It  is  a  blessing  of  the  Gospel  Covenant. 
That  Covenant,  after  it  was  confined  to  Abraham  and  his  seed,  had  an  outward 
and  visible  sign.  The  <;hange  of  the  sign  produced  no  change  in  the  thing  sig- 
nified. Infant  Baptism  the  incipient  Absolution.  Its  diffei  ence  from  Adult  Bap- 
tism. The  final  Absolution,  at  the  last  day,  will  be  pronounced  by  our  Lord 
himself.  Tlie  period  between  Baptism  and  Deaih,  the  only  space  for  contro- 
versy as  to  Absolution.  The  Baptismal  Coventiiit  renewed  in  Confirmation. 
One  of  the  six  fundamentals  The  duty  of  Chi  islians  to  leave  fundamentals, 
and  go  on  unio  periection.  What  is  meant  In"  perfection.  Not  freedom  from 
sin,  but  manhood  in  Christ.  Baptism  the  Sacrament  of  Infancy — the  Holy 
Communion  the  Sacrament  of  Manhood.  To  these  two  all  other  acts  of  the 
Christian  life  subordinate.  To  them  the  remission  of  sin  or  Absolution  restricted. 

II. 

The  Doctrine  and  Practice  of  the  Church  of  England. 
At  the  Reformation,  Infant  Baptism  universal.  No  office  for  Adult  Baptism 
till  the  restoration  ol  Charles  II.  Definition  of  the  two  Sacraments  as  gene- 
rally  necessary  to  salvation,  added  in  1G03,  but  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
Catholic  faith.  Remission  of  sin  conveyed  in  both  Sacraments,  and  there  only. 
Prayer  Book  of  1549,  the  mature  and  unbiassed  judgment  of  the  English  Reform- 
ers, attempted  to  restore  daily  service  to  the  people,  and  Communion  at  lea.st 
on  every  Sunday  and  Holyday  throughout  the  year.  Changes  introduced  in 
1552 — their  causes  and  consequences.  The  two  exhortations  of  1549.  Diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  the  English  Reformers,  from  the  ignorance  of  the  people 
and  mediaeval  corruptions.  Wisdom  of  the  Reformers  in  guarding  against 
error  and  upholding  truth 

III. 

Causes  of  the  Alterations  in  the  American  Prayer  Book. 

If  the  exhortations  of  1549  had  been  continued,  all  dispute  would  have  been 
prevented  about  auricular  confession.  But,  through  all  changes  and  trials,  the 
Church  of  England  confines  Absolution  to  the  Sacraments.  The  first  violation 
of  this  principle  in  the  American  Prayer  Book,  by  allowing  the  Absolution  to 
be  used  to  a  mixed  congregation.  History  of  this  and  other  changes.  The 
New  England  States,  New  York,  and  New  .Jersey,  opposed  and  had  no  partin 


IT 


CONTENTS. 


them.  Couuecticut  more  cautious  than  the  rest  in  reserving  the  right  to  reject 
or  receive  the  new  Book.    Part  which  Bishop  Seabury  took. 

IV. 

Practice  of  Connecticut,  and  Extent  of  her  Concessions. 
Suflfered  much  for  the  sake  of  union.    Her  rule,  Conformity  to  the  Old  or 
English  Prayer  Book,  wherever  it  is  not  directly  contravened  by  the  New. 
Consequently  she  has  never  approved  the  use  of  the  proper  Absolution,  except 
to  Communicants. 

V. 

The  Judgment  of  Bishop  Seabury. 
Selections  from  his  Discourses,  to  show  that  he  confines  Priestly  Absolution 
to  the  two  Sacraments.    His  practice  as  to  frequent  Communion. 

VI. 

How  are  we  to  Prepare  for  Communion  ? 
Baptism  as  early  as  possible.  Religious  training.  Confirmation.  The  Holy 
Communion  of  the  Young  before  they  are  exposed  to  the  assaults  of  the  World. 
The  confession  of  sins  as  a  preparation  for  Absolution  in  the  Sacrament.  Left 
by  the  Church  to  men's  consciences ;  but  indispensable  to  the  vitality  of  the 
Christian  life.  Private  confession  to  God,  to  be  made  every  night  at  least, 
before  sleep,  the  constant  image  of  death.  In  this  solemn  act,  eveiy  Com- 
municant a  priest  to  himself,  preparing  his  soul  for  the  Sacrament.  In  case 
of  doubts  or  scruples  which  cannot  be  resolved,  have  recourse  to  a  priest,  as  to 
a  physician.  Analogy  between  auricular  confession  of  bodily  disease  to  a 
physician,  and  auricular  confession  of  the  soul's  infirmities  to  a  priest, 

VII. 

Strictures  on  the  Pastoral  Letter. 
This  simple  principle  of  Absolution  in  the  Lord's  Supper  will  allay  all  agi- 
tation. Ravenscroft  and  Hobart  united  in  Church  principles  with  Seabury. 
Quotations  from  Ravenscroft,  Hooker,  Wheally,  all  are  in  accordance  with  this 
principle.  Remarks  on  Mr.  Curtis'  sermon.  The  supposed  Absolution  in  the 
morning  and  evening  services.  Injustice  to  the  early  Lutherans  in  classing 
them  with  Calvinists  and  Puritans.  This  shown  with  regard  to  Bucer  and 
Martyr.  Two  errors  in  departing  from  Sacramental  Absolution,  both  leading 
to  the  neglect  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  English  Visitation  Office.  Important 
question.  Conduct  of  Connecticut.  The  Changes  in  the  American  Prayer 
Book,  lead  us  back  to  the  Prayer  Book  of  1549.  Strict  observance  of  Rubrics. 
Two  or  three  expressions  in  the  Pastoi'al  Letter  of  doubtful  authority  and 
meaning. 

VIII. 

Co7iclusion. 

The  author  io  impelled  to  write  this  letter  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  his  friend, 
the  Bishop  of  North  Carolina,  duty  to  the  Apostolic  Ministry,  to  the  Diocese 
of  Connecticut,  to  the  true  Catholic  Church  in  these  United  States.  The 
future,  though  uncertain,  should  not  occasion  despondence.  An  extract  from 
Bishop  Seabury's  Discourse  on  the  duties  of  the  Laity. 


A  VOICE  FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


Right  Reterend  and  Dear  Sir  : 

I  am  induced  to  address  you  thus  publicly,  by  feelings  of  the 
utmost  personal  friendship,  and  the  utmost  reverence  for  your 
exalted  station  in  the  Church.  As  to  friendship,  I  need  not  make 
any  long  or  loud  professions.  Ever  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
knowing  you,  I  have  esteemed  you  as  one  of  the  purest  minded  of 
our  prelates — incessant  and  untiring  in  the  discharge  of  duties  to 
God  and  man,  and  mainly  anxious  for  His  glory,  and  the  salvation 
of  immortal  souls.  As  to  reverence,  I  need  only  say  that  it  has 
occasioned  some  doubt  whether,  as  an  humble  presbyter,  it  was 
my  duty  to  express  any  opinion  respecting  your  late  pastoral  let- 
ter. Nor  should  I,  if  you  had  not  sent  it  to  me,  and  thus  con- 
structively expressed  a  wish  to  learn  my  judgment  on  the  import- 
ant subject  which  led  to  it.  Even  with  this  encouragement  I  am 
not  disposed  to  assume  the  language  of  individual  oj^inion  ;  and  it  is 
with  the  approbation  of  my  diocesan,  expressed  after  a  deliberate 
examination  of  what  I  now  write,  that  I  have  ventured  to  call  it 

A  VOICE  FROM  CONNECTICUT. 

I. 

The  subject,  then,  of  the  following  remarks,  is  the  power  of 
Priestly  Absolution,  and  the  limits  within  which  it  must  be  exer- 
cised. 

To  so  sinful  and  corrupt  a  being  as  man,  when  considered  only 
in  his  natural  state,  as  a  descendant  of  Adam,  there  can  be  no  Ab- 
solution. This  position,  I  presume,  no  one  who  rightly  calls  him- 
self a  Christian  will  deny.    However  vague  and  unmeaning  is  the 


6 


A  VOICE 


language  of  some  who  rely  upon  impulses  and  feelings,  and  talk  of 
justification  by  faith,  as  if  it  were  wholly  unconnected  with  any 
act  or  deed  on  the  part  of  man,  there  can  be  no  question  in  the 
mind  of  any  true  believer,  that  we  can  be  pardoned  only  through 
the  merits  and  mediation  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

To  the  Catholic  Christian,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  from  the 
time  of  Abraham,  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  Covenant  have  been 
conferred  uptm  infants  in  connection  with  an  outward  and  visible 
sign.  As  in  Adam  a  perfect  man  was  created  with  all  the  pow- 
ers and  faculties  necessary  to  his  nature,  and  then  the  successive 
generations  grew  up  from  the  feebleness  of  infancy,  so  was  it  in 
the  Covenant  of  grace  with  faithful  Abraham.  The  promise  of  a 
Redeemer,  after  Adam's  fall,  was  made  before  he  was  allowed  to 
give  birth  to  any  child.  All  his  posterity  were  therefore  included 
in  the  promise  of  redemption  through  Jesus  Christ.  Noah  and 
his  sons  were  so  included.  Abraham  himself  was  so  included ; 
and  it  was  only  on  account  of  the  universal  corruption  of  men,  and 
their  voluntary  abandonment  of  their  great  privileges,  in  and 
through  the  Redeemer,  that  a  limitation  was  made  of  these  bless- 
ings to  the  Father  of  the  faithful.  As  he  was  called  in  the  perfec- 
tion of  his  powers  and  faculties,  in  a  state  of  grace  and  not  of 
nature,  to  be  the  lather,  by  miraculous  agency,  of  the  child  of 
promise,  so  was  that  child  and  all  subsequent  generations  derived 
from  him  to  be  made  partakers  of  the  Covenant  of  grace  on  the 
eighth  day  after  their  natural  birth. 

The  change  of  the  outward  and  visible  sign  made  no  difference 
as  to  the  inward  and  spiritual  grace  which  it  signified.  Every 
Christian  parent  or  sponsor,  presenting  his  child  for  Baptism,  is  a 
Father  of  the  faithful  circumcising  the  child  of  promise  with  the 
circumcision  made  without  hands,  (Col.  ii.  11,  12.)  It  is  the  sol- 
emn act  by  which  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  vicegerent  of  the  One 
Mediator,  receives  into  the  One  Mystical  body  of  Christ  a  new- 
born member.  As  all  bloody  rites  were  abolished  on  the  cross, 
it  is  not  now  necessary  to  wait  even  till  the  eighth  day  of  the  nat- 
ural life.  Such  at  least  was  the  decision  of  the  third  Council  of 
Carthage,  under  St.  Cyprian,  about  a.  d.  253  ;  not,  as  it  has  been 
incautiously  represented,  a  decision  that  infants  should  be  bap- 
tized, for  of  that  the  Ancient  Church  never  doubted  ;  but  whether 
in  the  new  sign  it  was  necessary  to  be  governed  by  the  law  of  the 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


7 


ancient  circumcision.  St.  Cyprian  and  his  colleagues  unanimously 
decided  "  that  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God  were  to  be  denied  to 
none  who  should  come  into  the  world.  For  since  the  Lord  saith 
in  his  gospel,  'the  Son  of  Man  is  not  come  to  destroy  men's  lives, 
but  to  save  them,'  (St.  Luke,  ix.  56,)  as  far  as  in  us  lies,  if  it  can 
be  done,  no  soul  must  be  lost.  For  what  is  wanting  to  him  who 
hath  once  been  formed  in  the  womb  by  the  hands  of  God  %  To 
lis  indeed  and  to  our  eyes,  they  who  are  born  seem  to  receive 
their  increase  according  to  the  course  of  secular  times.  Whereas, 
whatsoever  things  are  made  by  God,  are  perfected  by  the  majesty 
and  work  of  God  the  Creator."*  The  Baptism  of  infants  before 
they  have  done  good  or  evil,  is  the  incipient  Absolution;  the  par- 
don of  that  sin  under  which  they  were  born  by  descent  from 
Adam ;  the  justification  by  faith  before  the  performance  of  any 
works.  The  postponement  of  Baptism  indicates  a  want  of  faith 
in  the  parents  and  guardians  of  children,  in  direct  violation  of 
their  duty  to  God  :  and  so,  it  is  an  act  of  sin,  for  which  they  must 
account  hereafter  at  the  dreadful  day  of  judgment. 

I  enter  not  into  the  question  of  adult  Baptism,  any  further  than 
to  observe  how  obviously  different  it  is  from  that  of  infants  ;  inas- 
much as  the  adult  has  committed  actual  sin.  Whether  a  person 
lying  under  the  guilt  of  the  primaeval  curse,  and  aggravating  it 
immeasurably  as  he  advances  in  life,  is  pardoned  in  Baptism,  de- 
pends on  the  reality  of  his  faith  and  the  sincerity  of  his  repentance. 
The  Holy  Ghost,  the  searcher  of  all  hearts,  knows,  when  he  ask» 


*  Cyprianus  ad  Fidum,  de  infantibus  baptizandis.  Opera  Ed.  Erasmi,  1520, 
p.  82.  Ed.  Benedict,  p.  98.  I  give  the  whole  passage  in  the  original,  to  show^ 
that  the  question  referred  by  Fidus  to  St.  Cyprian  and  the  Council  was  not  about 
infant  baptism,  huX  whether  infants  skoull  be  baptized  the  second  or  third  day 
after  their  birth,  or  invari.ably  on  the  eighth  day.  "  Quantum  vero  ad  cau- 
sam  infani  iuni  purtinet,quos  dixisti  i  dra  sccfmdum  vel  tertium  diem  quo  nati  sunt 
conslitutos  baptizari  non  oportcre,  et  considerandam  legem  esse  circumcisionis 
anliauGC,  ut  intra  octavnm  diem  eum  qui  natus  est,  baplizatidum  et  sanctifi- 
candum,  non  puiares,  longe  aliud  in  concilio  nostro  omnibus  visum  €8t.  la 
hoc  enim  quod  tu  putabas  esse  luciendum  nemo  consensit,  sed  universi  potius 
judicavimus  nulli  horainum  nato  misericordiam  Dei  et  gratiam  denegandam. 
Nam  cum  Dominus  in  e  v  angelio  suo  dicut:  '  Filius  hnminis  non  venit  animas 
hominum  perdere  sed  salvare,'  quantum  in  nobis  est,  si  fieri  potest  nulla  anima 
perdenda  est  Quid  enim  ei  deest,  qui  semel  in  utero  Dei  manibus  formatus 
est?  Nobis  enim  atque  oculis  nosiris,  secundum  dierum  secularium  cursum, 
accipere  qui  nati  suul  incrementum  videntur.  Caiterum  quaDcunque  a  Deo 
fiunt,  Dei  factoris  majestate  et  opere  perlecta  sunt."  This  is  the  text  of  Eras- 
mus. It  differs  not  in  sense  from  that  of  the  Benedictines,  but  of  the  two 
seems  to  me  preferable. 


8 


A  VOICE 


for  Baptism,  whether  he  is  inwardly  moved  by  right  motives  or 
whether,  by  the  hypocritical  pretence  of  such  motives,  he  only 
thereby  increases  his  condemnation.  The  Christian  minister,  who 
confers  the  outward  and  visible  sign,  is  the  agent  for  that  purpose 
of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  the  inward  and  spiritual  grace  is  given 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  himself.  *'  No  man  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the 
Lord,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  There  are  diversities  of  opera- 
tions, but  it  is  the  same  God  which  worketh  all  in  all,"  (1  Cor,  xii. 
2-6.)  A  child  of  the  Devil,  like  Simon  the  Sorcerer,  may  be  so 
quickened  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  "Word,  and  the  preaching 
of  Christ  by  his  ministers,  as  to  believe  and  be  baptized,  and  con- 
tinue with  the  Christian  minister,  and  wonder  when  he  beholds  the 
power  of  God.  (Acts.  viii.  4-13.)  It  is  not  for  us  to  limit  by 
our  crude  conceptions  and  theories,  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  even  over  such  a  being.  Simon  was  admitted  by  the 
sign  and  seal  of  Baptism  into  the  outward  and  visible  Church,  the 
ONE  MYSTICAL  BODY  of  Christ.  As  such,  though  his  "  heart " 
was  "not  right  in  the  sight  of  God,"  he  was  required  to  "repent 
of"  his  "wickedness,  and  pray  God  if  perhaps  the  thought  of" 
his  heart  "  might  "  be  forgiven  "  him.  Such  language  would 
not  have  been  used  before  his  Baptism.  He  could  not  "repent" 
without  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  could  not  "  pray,"  so  that  his  sin 
might  be  forgiven,  without  the  Holy  Ghost.  Though  perceived 
to  be  still  "  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  in  the  bond  of  iniquity," 
his  whole  life  was  given  him  for  repentance ;  and  doubtless  the 
Church,  as  he  requested,  prayed  to  the  Lord  for  him  that  he 
might  be  forgiven.  This  is  the  worst  aspect  in  which  a  case  of 
adult  Baptism  can  be  considered.  It  belongs  only  to  the  Om- 
niscient Spirit  to  judge  ;  and  except  in  such  sins  as  "  are  open  be- 
forehand, going  before  to  judgment,"  (1  Tim.  v.  24,)  the  Church 
at  the  close  of  the  life  on  earth  of  every  baptized  adult,  commits 
his  body  to  the  ground  in  sure  and  certain  hope  of  resurrection  at 
the  last  day.  It  is  the  reference  of  judgment  to  Him  who  alone 
can  judge  in  each  particular  case.  The  Church  on  earth  pre- 
sumes not  so  to  judge,  but  only  expresses  her  faith  that  they  who 
sleep  in  Jesus  will  be  raised  like  unto  him.  In  the  Baptism  of  in- 
fants the  soul  is  so  newly  from  the  hands  of  its  Almighty  Crea- 
tor, that  the  great  Adversary  of  souls  has  not  had  time  or  oppor- 
tunity to  take  it  captive  before  it  is  put  under  the  protection  of 


PROM  CONNECTICUT. 


9 


covenant  mercy.  In  the  Baptism  of  adults,  tlie  soul  has  been 
soiled  by  unnumbered  sins  and  become  the  captive  of  Satan.  In 
this  condition  it  hears  the  blessed  tidings  of  salvation  through  the 
merits  of  Him  who  hath  led  captive  its  captivity.  The  Lord 
opens  it  to  attend  to  the  Word  of  truth.  "  Faith  cometh  by  hear- 
ing, and  hearing  by  the  Word  of  God."  (Rom.  x.  11.)  It  is 
taught  that  the  believer  who  is  baptized  shall  be  saved.  (St. 
Mark.  xvi.  16.)  Alarmed  by  the  sense  of  sin  and  misery  with- 
out Christ,  it  applies  to  the  minister  of  Christ  and  receives  the 
same  answer  which  the  repentant  Jews  received  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost :  *'  Repent  and  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins."  (Acts,  ii,  38.)  No  sins  can  be 
remitted  to  men  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  for  which  reason  our 
Saviour  said  to  his  apostles,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whose 
soever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto  ihem  ;  and  whose 
soever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained."  (St.  John,  xx.  22,23.) 
When  Jesus  was  glorified,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  to  abide  with  the 
Church  FOREVER,  (St.  John,  xiv.  16,  17.  ;)  and  this  term  forever 
must  be  explained  by  our  Saviour's  own  hmitation  :  "  Lo,  I 
am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  (St.  Matt, 
xxviii.  20.)  They  that  believe  on  Christ  shall  receive  the  Spirit^ 
(St.  John,  vii.  37-39  ;)  but  it  must  be  according  to  the  terms 
which  Christ  has  prescribed,  by  being  baptized  into  his  body. 
No  works  done  before  Baptism  can  plead  for  Absolution  or  justifi- 
cation in  the  sight  of  God.  They  are  excluded  by  the  very 
terms  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  by  faith  in  Christ  only,  that  the 
awakened  sinner  can  be  justified  ;  for  this  plain  reason,  that, 
however  excellent  a  man's  works  may  be  in  themselves,  they  do 
not  proceed  from  that  principle  of  faith  in  the  soul  which  is  the 
foundation  of  all  good  works.  He  who  maintains  that  the  nat- 
ural man  can  turn  and  prepare  himself,  without  the  grace  of  God 
preventing,  is,  whatever  he  may 'call  himself,  a  Pelagian.  He 
is  condemned  by  the  Catholic  Church;  and  every  one,  who,  in 
the  language  of  the  Creed,  believes  "  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
Lord  and  giver  of  life "  and  "the  one  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
Church,"  must  also  **  acknowledge  one  Baptism  for  the  re- 
mission OF  SINS." 

As  the  incipient  Absolution  or  remission  of  sins  in  Baptism,  is  a 
justification  hy  faith  only,  so  the Absolution,  the  final  remis- 

9 


10 


A  VOICE 


sioii  of  sin^,  the ^?iaZ  justification  by  our  Lord  himseh"  at  the  last 
day,  will  clearly  be  a  justification  hy  icorks.  "  The  dead,  small 
and  great,  will  stand  before  God  and  be  judged,  every  man  ac- 
cording to  their  works.''  The  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  who 
has  dwelt  most  upon  the  evangelical  doctrine  of  justification  "  by 
faith  without  the  deeds  of  the  law,"  (Rom.  iii.  28,)  maintains  with 
equal  clearness,  that,  in  "the  day  of  wrath  and  revelation  of  the 
righteous  judgment  of  God,"  He  "  will  render  to  every  man 
according  to  his  deeds ;  to  them  who  by  patient  continuance  in 
well-doing  seek  for  glory  and  honour,  and  immortality,  eternal 
life  ;  but  unto  them  that  are  contetitious  and  do  not  obey  the 
truth,  but  obey  unrighteousness,  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation 
and  anguish  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil,"  (Rom. 
ii.  5-9.) 

These  truths  arc  so  clearly  expressed  in  holy  Scripture,  and 
by  ancient  Catholic  doctors,  that  an  apology  would  be  due  from 
me  for  having  so  long  dwelt  upon  them,  if  it  were  not  that  I  wish 
to  define  with  perfect  precision  what  seems  to  me  the  only  space 
within  which  there  can  be  any  just  room  for  controversy.  The 
grand  question  is,  concerning  the  time  allotted  to  every  Christian 
to  work  out  his  own  salvation,  and  make  his  calling  and  election 
sure.  It  is  the  period  between  Baptism  and  Death ;  and  on  the 
issues  of  fourscore,  or  at  the  most  fourscore  and  ten  years,  de- 
pends the  awful  question,  which  the  most  aged  of  our  race  must 
consider,  whether  he  is  to  be  eternally  happy  or  eternally  miser- 
able. At  the  longest,  how  short  !  Yet  in  the  midst  of  life  we 
are  in  death.  Though  certain  and  unerring  in  the  decrees  of 
God,  the  term  of  every  man's  earthly  existence  is  to  himself  most 
uncertain.  The  night  of  death  cometh  when  no  man  can  work  ; 
and  the  Cliristian  must  imitate,  in  the  activity  of  Christian  life,  the 
example  of  his  blessed  Lord,  in  working  while  it  is  day.  Half 
of  our  race,  as  is  commonly  computed,  die  before  their  senses  are 
exercised  to  discern  good  from  evil.  What  that  point  is  in  each 
individual,  we  are  ignorant.  The  Holy  Ghost,  the  searcher  of  all 
hearts,  is  not  so.  He  haih  applied  to  the  soul  of  every  baptized 
infant  the  merits  of  the  great  Atonement ;  and  if  that  infant  dies 
without  actual  sin,  he  is,  by  the  assurances  of  God's  Word,  most 
undoubtedly  saved.  But  if  the  infant  lives,  and  the  parents  and 
sponsors  do  their  duty,  he  is  taught  that  he  has  "  made  a  solemn 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


11 


VOW,  jiromise  and  profession  "  in  Baptism,  "  to  lead  a  godly  and 
a  Christian  life  ;"  "  to  follow  the  example  of  our  Saviour  Christ, 
and  be  made  like  unto  him  ;"  to  "  die  from  sin,  and  rise  again 
unto  righteousness;"  continually  to  mortify  all  his  "evil  and  cor- 
rupt affections ;"  and  to  proceed  "  daily  in  all  virtue  and  godli- 
ness of  living/' 

Our  blessed  Lord,  circumcised  on  the  eighth  day  of  his  mor- 
tal life,  and  on  the  faith  of  his  mother  and  reputed  father, 
was  taken  to  the  Temple  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  accord- 
ing to  the  practice  of  the  Church  which  then  was,  to  take 
upon  himself  the  observance  of  the  Covenant  implied  in  what 
St.  Cyprian  called  the  "  ancient  circumcision."  It  is  so  with  the 
new  circumcision,  after  the  abolition  of  all  bloody  rites;  the  cir- 
cumcision of  the  Spirit  or  of  Christ,  as  St.  Paul  calls  Baptism,  in 
his  epistle  to  the  Colossinns,  (Col.  ii.  11. 12  ;  iii.  1-6.)*  The  child 
is  now  baptized  on  the  faith  of  those  who  present  him  for  Baptism  ; 
but  he  must  afterwards  take  upon  himself  the  observance  of  the 
Covenant  ;  and  this  he  does  in  Confirmation.  It  is  one  of  the  fun- 
damentals or  first  "  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,"  laid  down 
by  the  Apostle  in  Hebrews,  vi.  1,  2.  They  are  six  in  number  :  re- 
pentance from  dead  works,  faith  toward  God,  the  doctrine  of  bap- 
tisms, and  of  laying  on  of  hands,  and  of  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
and  of  eternal  judgment."  All  these  fundamentals  cluster  around 
Baptism,  and  are  inseparably  connected  with  that  Sacrament.  Af- 
ter the  laying  on  of  hands,  the  baptismal  Covenant  is  confirmed  and 
ratified.  It  is  a  Covenant  between  the  soul  of  every  baptized  per- 
son and  the  Holy  Ghost ;  confirmed  by  the  recipient  as  far  as  the 
promise  of  duties  is  concerned,  and  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  throu"-h 
the  outward  and  visible  agency  of  His  chief  minister.  If  all  the 
fundamentals  are  there,  (and  that  the  Holy  Ghost  surely  knoweth,) 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in  that  solemn  transaction,  the  Cove- 
nant of  Baptism  is  renewed  and  ratified.  The  pardon  of  past 
sins,  by  the  very  nature  of  the  terms,  is  confirmed  ;  and  the  soul 
of  the  Christian  is  invigorated  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  renew  the 
warfare  with  the  enemies  of  his  salvation,  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil;  looking  forward  to  the  two  fundamentals  which  are 
yet  future,  the  "resurrection  of  the  dead"  and  "eternal  judgment." 

*The  circumcision  "  made  without  hands,"  is  a  Hebraism ;  just  as  in  Dan- 
iel, ii.  34  the  "  httle  stone  cut  out  without  hands,"  to  denote  the  agency  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 


12 


A  VOICE 


But  the  Apostle  requires  of  all  Christians,  that  they  leave  "  the 
principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ "  and  "  go  on  unto  perfec- 
tion, not  laying  again  the  foundation."  What,  then,  is  this  per- 
fection ■?  It  is  a  figurative  term,  which  he  himself  has  elsewhere 
explained  ;  a  term  derived  metaphorically  from  the  growth  of  a 
human  being.  As  a  child  grows  up  from  infancy  to  manhood,  so 
by  gradual  progression  does  the  true  Christian  "  grow  in  grace 
and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,'^ 
(2  Pet.  iii.  18.)  The  Apostle  reproaches  the  Hebrews,  that  when 
for  the  time  they  ought  to  be  teachers,  they  liad  need  to  be  taught 
again  these  first  principles.  He  compares  them  to  infants,  who, 
on  account  of  their  tender  age,  must  be  fed  with  milk,  and  not 
with  that  strong  meat  which  can  be  inwardly  digested  only  by 
persons  of  full  age,  (  Heb.  v.  12-14.)  So  he  tells  the  Corinthians 
that  he  has  fed  them  with  milk,  as  being  babes  in  Christ,  because 
they  were  carnal,  and  not  spiritual ;  because  there  were  among 
them  envying  and  strife  and  schism.  (1  Cor.  iii.  1-3.)  Yet  he 
speaks  of  some  of  them  as  being  "perfect."  (l.Cor.  ii.  6.)  And  so, 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  speakingof  that  one  Body  and  one 
Spirit  into  which  we  are  called  at  our  Baptism,  he  says  of  "apos- 
tles, and  prophets,  and  evangelists  and  pastors  and  teachers,"  that 
they  are  given  "  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints."  The  ministry 
appointed  by  Christ,  as  agents  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  so  appoint- 
ed for  the  very  purpose  of  bringing  men  from  the  infancy  of  the 
first  principles  "  unto  a  perfect  man — the  stature  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ."  It  is  so  appointed,  that  the  members  of  Christ's  body  may 
"  be  no  more  children,  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  carried  about  with 
every  wind  of  doctrine,  by  the  sleight  of  men,"  but  that  they 
"may  in  all  things  grow  up  into  him  which  is  the  head,"  (Ephs.  iv. 
4—16.)  This  perfection  is  not  sinless.  The  greatest  saint  on 
earth  is  not  in  that  sense  perfect,  **If  we  say  that  we  have  no 
sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,"  (1  John,  i.  8.)  The  most  mature 
Christian  counts  not  himself  "to  have  apprehended;"  but  "for- 
getting those  things  which  are  behind,"  the  mere  fundamentals  of 
the  Christian  religion,  he  presses  "  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize 
of  the  high-calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  They  who  are  per- 
fect are  thus  minded.  Though  they  are  still  on  earth,  their 
conversation  is  in  Heaven,"  (Phil.  iii.  13-20.)  Such  is  the  man- 
hood in  Christ.    Such  are  they  who,  baptized  into  his  body, 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


13 


continue  steadfastly  in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship, 
and  in  breaking  of  bread  and  in  prayers/'  (Acts,  ii.  41,  42.) 
They  are  "the  saints  and  faithful  brethren  in  Christ  Jesus," 
to  whom  the  Apostles  have  written.  They  are  "  the  faithful " 
of  the  primitive  Church,  to  whom  "  the  Cup  of  blessing,"  which 
the  Apostolic  ministry  blesses,  is  "  the  communion  of  the  blood 
of  Christ,"  and  "the  bread"  which  they  break,  is  "the  com- 
munion of  the  body  of  Christ."  (1  Cor.  x.  16.)  They  examine 
themselves,  that  they  may  worthily  *'  eat  of  that  bread  and  drink 
of  that  cup,"  (I  Cor.  xi.  28.)  With  the  heart  they  believe  unto 
righteousness  ;  with  the  mouth  they  confess  unto  salvation,  (Rom. 
X.  10.)  It  is  the  confession  of  Christ  before  men,  (St.  Luke,  xii. 
S.)  Self  examination  to  detect  even  their  most  hidden  sins  ;  re- 
pentance, when^by  they  forsake  sin  ;  that  living  faith  which  shows 
itself  in  works  of  love  ;  that  boldness  in  the  faith  which  is  not 
ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ;  that  deep  humility  which  ac- 
knowledges that,  even  when  our  lives  are  most  holy,  we  are  saved 
only  through  the  precious  death  and  passion  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  the  application  of  his  passion  to  our  souls,  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  in  the  Eucharist,  for  the  remission  of  post-baptismal  sins  ; 
these  are  the  qualifications  and  privileg(is  which  belong  to  the 
maturity  of  the  Christian  life.  The  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  is  the 
Sacrament  of  Christian  infancy;  the  Sacrament  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  that  of  Christian  manhood.  All  other  acts  of  the 
Christian  life  are  subordinate  to  these.  In  them,  and  in  them  alone, 
remission  of  sin  is  conveyed  to  the  soul  of  the  recipient,  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  power  of  the  Christian  priest  consists  only  in 
this  :  that  by  a  valid  ordination  he  has  received,  and  that  exclu- 
sively, authority  from  the  Holy  Ghost  to  remit  sins  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Sacraments.  He  is  the  agent  by  whom  the  Holy 
Ghost  conveys  the  outward  and  visible  sign  ;  but  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  presides  invisibly  over  the  Church,  who  has  so  presided  ever 
since  our  glorified  Lord  sent  Him  as  his  substitute,  and  who  will 
continue  so  to  preside  until  that  same  Lord  shall  come  again,  re- 
serves to  himself  the  conveyance  of  the  inward  and  spiritual  grace. 
Unhappily,  the  practice  of  lay-baptism  has  been  tolerated  in  the 
Church,  on  the  ground  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  incipient 
Sacrament;  but  even  on  the  most  favourable  construction,  it  must 
be  ratified  and  confirmed  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the  agency 


14 


A  VOICE 


of  that  chief  minister  of  His,  to  whom  alone  the  power  of  ordi- 
nation is  entrusted.  As  for  the  other  Sacrament,  no  such  tolera- 
tion has  ever  existed.  None  but  the  Apostolic  ministry  derived 
from  Christ,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  can  lawfully 
administer  the  Holy  Communion.  Such  is,  and  ever  has  been^ 
the  judgment  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

II. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  consider  whether  the  doctrine  and 
practice  of  the  Church  of  England,  is  in  strict  conformity  with 
the  judgment  of  the  Church  Catholic. 

As  to  Baj'  ism,  I  need  say  but  little.  It  is  now  generally 
acknowledge  and  will  soon,  I  trust,  be  beyond  controversy, 
that  she  has  ever  departed,  on  that  subject,  from  ancient  and 
Catholic  faith  and  usage.  At  the  time  of  the  English  Refor- 
mation, the  prn  ctice  of  infant  Baptism  was  universal.  The  first 
Prayer-Book  ol  1549,  and  the  subsequent  prayer-books  for  nearly 
a  hundred  years,  until  a  profane  Parliament  suppressed  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  altogether,  provided  only  for  the  Baptism  of 
Infants  ;  nor  ^■  it  till  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  when  the 
dead  waters  of  Puritanism  had  swept  over  the  land,  and  had  had 
time  to  produce  their  apples  of  Sodom,  that  an  office  for  the  Bap- 
tism of  Adults  was  deemed  necessary.  During  the  same  period 
the  Catechism  was  included  in  the  Office  for  Confirmation, and  its 
very  construction  implied  that  all  the  children  for  whose  religious 
training  it  was  intended,  had  been  baptized  before  they  were  ca- 
pable of  being  taught  what  a  solemn  vow  and  promise  and  pro- 
fession had  been  made  in  their  names.  What  is  now  the  Preface 
in  Confirmation,  was  then  only  a  Ruhric  assigning  the  reasons 
why  children  should  not  be  confirmed  at  too  early  an  age.  On  the 
accession  of  James  I.,  and  after  the  Hampton-Court  Conference, 
to  meet  a  reasonable  objection  of  the  Puritans,  that  too  little  was 
said  in  the  Catechism  about  the  Sacraments,  the  Convocation  set 
forth  the  part  which  follows  the  subject  of  prayer.  It  was  in  strict 
accordance  with  Catholic  faith  and  ancient  usage  ;  and  we  know 
not  whether  to  admire  most  the  precision  and  clearness  of  its  defi- 
nitions, or  the  dignified  moderation  of  its  language  on  questions 
then  in  controversy.    In  reply  to  the  question,  How  many  Sacra- 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


15 


merits  hath  Christ  ordained  in  His  CMiurch  ]  tlie  answer  is,  '*  Two 

ONLY,  AS  GENERALLY  NECESSARY  TO  SaLVATION."      The  WOrd  iSfl- 

cramentum  was  used  among  the  Latins  to  denote  what  is  meant  in 
Greek  by  the  word  Mystery,  Admitting  this  in  ils  largest  signifi- 
cation, and  so  avoiding  a  dispute  about  words,  the  answer  says 
that  Christ  ordained  two  only  as  generally  necessary  to  salvaiian. 
Infants,  dying  before  the  commission  of  actual  sin,  have  been 
absolved  in  Baptism,  and  are  undoubtedl}'^  saved.  Confirmation 
is  the  renewal  of  the  Baptismal  Covenant ;  and  though  sacra- 
mental in  its  character,  and  probably  ordained  of  Christ  during 
the  forty  days  instruction  before  he  ascended,  cannot  be  considered 
as  necessary  to  the  salvation  of  those  who  die  in  Christ  before 
they  have  had  ability  to  receive  it.  Orders  m  'y  be  sacramental, 
80  far  as  the  priesthood  are  concerned  ;  but  surely  they  are  not 
generally  necessary  to  salvation.  Matrimony,  instituted  in  Para- 
dise as  a  type  of  the  union  of  Christ  with  the  Church,  cannot  be 
considered  as  generally  necessary  to  salvation  ;  or  a  life  of  celiba- 
cy would  make  those  who  practice,  and  those  who  enjoin  it,  cast- 
a-ways.  I  say  nothing  of  extreme  unction  ;  for  I  have  yet  to  learn 
that  it  was  ordained  of  Christ;  or  that  persons  not  so  anointed 
are  therefore  rejected  from  God's  mercy. 

The  next  answer  is  a  definition  of  the  word  Sacrament,  as  re- 
ceived and  taught  in  the  Church  of  England.  What  meanest 
ikou  by  this  word  Sacrament  ?  "I  mean  "  (that  is,  every  person 
baptized  into  Christ,  and  taught  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
Christ  commanded  his  Apostles,  ^latt.  xxviii.,  20) — every  such 
member  of  the  Church  means,  "  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an 
inward  and  spiritual  grace  given  unto  us;  ordained  by  Christ 
himself,  as  a  means  whereby  we  receive  the  same,  and  a  pledge 
to  assure  us  thereof."  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  are  gene- 
rally necessary  to  salvation  ;  and  are  not  only  the  means  of  re- 
ceiving the  inward  and  spiritual  grace,  but  are  the  pledges  given 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the  agency  of  His  ministers,  to  all 
whom  He,  the  searcher  of  all  hearts,  knows  to  be  worthy.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  then,  is,  that  Remission  of 
Sins  is  conveyed  in  the  two  Sacraments;  and  it  considers  Con- 
firmation as  inseparably  connected  with  Baptism,  and  therefore 
not  an  independent  Sacrament.  It  is  the  end  of  Christian  infancy, 
and  the  beginning  of  Christian  manhood.    In  writing  to  a  Bishop 


16 


A  VOICE 


of  our  Church,  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  enter  into  any  defense 
of  these  positions.  To  any  one  who  carefully  examines  the  his- 
tory of  the  English  Reformation,  they  must  all  be  apparent ;  and 
to  that  I  proceed,  in  order  to  show  that  the  Church  of  England 
allows  no  Absolution,  separated  from  the  Sacraments. 

The  Prayer-Book  of  1549  expressed  the  mature  and  unbiassed 
judgment  of  the  English  Reformers.  It  contained  an  Order  for 
daily  service,  morning  and  evening,  throughout  the  year.  It  was 
to  be  used  in  every  congregation,  chiefly  for  the  edification  of  the 
clergy  and  for  the  purpose  of  having  the  Bible  read  through,  "that 
the  people  (by  daily  hearing  of  holy  Scripture  read  in  the  Church) 
Should  continually  profit  more  and  more  in  the  knowledge  of  God, 
and  be  the  more  inflamed  with  the  love  of  his  true  religion." 
The  Litany  was  appointed  to  be  used  "  upon  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays" — "  m  all  places.'^  The  Office  for  the  Holy  Communion 
was  used  in  Cathedral  Churches  and  other  places  daily,  and  was 
appointed  to  be  used  in  all  parish  Churches,  upon  all  Sundays 
AND  Holy  Days  throughout  the  year.  But  it  must  be  distinctly 
observed  that  in  the  morning  and  evening  services  throughout  the 
year,  to  be  attended  by  all,  indiscriminately,  there  loas  no  form  of 
general  confession  or  absolution.  Such  forms  were  appointed  no 
where,  excepting  in  the  ministration  of  the  Holy  Communion.  This 
I  have  said  was  the  mature  and  unbiassed  judgment  of  the  Eng- 
lish Reformers.  Unhappily,  in  the  political  condition  of  Europe 
at  that  time,  the  Enghsh  statesmen  wished  for  a  closer  union  with 
the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany,  which  they  thought  might  be 
effected  by  concessions  to  the  foreign  Reformers.  This  produced 
the  Prayer-Book  of  1552.  The  concessions  were  not  to  Calvin  ; 
for  he  was  then  a  young  man,  just  beginning  to  be  known  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  the  little  regard  paid  to  him  occasioned  his  petulant  and 
peevish  behaviour  with  regard  to  the  English  Reformation.  Bucer 
and  Martyr  were  the  foreigners  who,  next  to  Melancthon,  were 
held  in  greatest  estimation  in  England.  Both  were  men  of  great 
learning  and  moderation  ;  but  their  influence  led  to  changes  which 
m  many  cases  were  far  from  improvements.  They  detracted 
from  the  fervour  of  the  first  Prayer-Book.  They  introduced  into  a 
book  of  devotions  too  much  of  the  formalism  of  preaching",  and  too 
much  of  exhortation.  Still,  the  texts  of  Scripture,  and  the  ex- 
hortations with  which  the  morning  and  evening  services  were  now 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


17 


commenced,  were  admirable  in  llioir  kind  ;  "  iIk;  Gcn<3i  al  Con- 
fession to  be  said  of  the  whole  congregation,"  was  wisely  ndapted, 
by  its  lowly  language,  to  produce  a  contrite  spirit ;  and  what  was 
called  the  Absolution,  stated  clearly  lhat  all  pardon  comes  from 
God,  and  can  be  obtained  only  on  the  conditions  of  the  Gospel 
Covenant.  I  say  what  was  called  an  Absolution  ;  for  it  was  only 
what  the  American  Prayer-Book  correctly  calls  it,  *♦  the  declara- 
tion of  Absolution  or  Remission  of  Sins."  The  true  authoritative 
act  of  Absolution  to  be  pronounced  by  the  Bishop  only  when 
present,  and  by  every  priest  onli/  in  his  absence,  was  still  connec- 
ted inseparably  with  the  Holy  Communion.  For  any  adult 
Christians  to  neglect  the  Communion  was  declared  to  be  an  offence 
against  God,  by  which  they  perilled  their  own  salvation.  With- 
out it  there  could  be  no  remission  of  post-baptismal  sin. 

In  the  prayer-book  of  1549  it  was  ordered  that,  "  if  the  jirople 
be  not  exhorted,"  (in  the  sermon,  which  was  always  a  part  of  the 
Communion  Service,)  **  to  the  worthy  receiving  of  the  Holy  Sa- 
crament of  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ,"  the  Curate 
should  use  the  exhortation  specially  provided  *' to  those  who  were 
minded  to  receive  the  same."  As  it  differed  somewhat  from  the 
exhortation  as  now  used,  an: I  its  language  clearly  showed  the 
mind  of  the  Reformers  on  the  efficacy  of  the  Sacrament  when 
worthily  or  unworthily  received,  I  may  be  permitted  to  insert 
some  extracts  here  : 

Dearly  beloved  in  the  Lord,  y(!  that  mind  to  come  to  the 
Holy  Communion  of  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ, 
must  consider  what  St.  Paul  writcth  to  the  Corinthians,  how 
he  exhortoth  all  persons  diligently  to  try  and  examine  them- 
selves before  they  presume  to  eat  of  that  bread  and  drink  of 
that  cup.  For  as  the  benefit  is  great,  if  with  a  truly  peni- 
tent heart  and  lively  faith,  we  receive  that  Holy  Sacrament,  (for 
then  we  spiritually  eat  the  flesh  of  Christ  and  drink  his  blood  j 
then  we  dwell  in  Christ,  and  Christ  in  us,  we  be  made  one  with 
Christ  and  Christ  with  us;)  so  is  the  danger  great  if  we  re- 
ceive the  same  unworthily.  For  then  we  become  guilty  of  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  our  Saviour  ;  we  eat  and  drink  our 
own  damnation,  not  considering  the  Lord's  body ;  we  kindle 
God's  wrath  over  us  ;  we  provoke  Him  to  plague  us  with  divers 
diseases  and  sundry  kinds  of  death. 
3 


18 


A  TOICE 


Therefore  if  any  here  be  a  blasphemer,  advouturer,  or  be  in 
malice,  or  envy,  or  in  any  other  grievous  crime,  (except  he  be  truly 
sorry  therefor,  and  earnestly  minded  to  leave  the  same  vices,  and 
do  trust  himself  to  be  reconciled  to  Almighty  God,  and  in  charity 
with  all  the  world,)  let  him  bewail  his  sins,  and  not  come  to  that 
holy  table,  lest  after  the  taking  of  that  most  blessed  bread,  the 
devil  enter  into  him,  as  he  did  into  Judas,  to  fill  him  full  of  all 
iniquity  and  bring  him  to  destruction,  both  of  body  and  soul. 

"Judge  therefore  yourselves,  (brethren,)  that  ye  be  not  judg-ed 
of  the  Lord.  Let  your  mind  be  without  desire  to  sin ;  repent 
you  truly  for  your  sins  past ;  have  an  earnest  and  lively  faith  in 
Christ  our  Saviour  ;  be  in  perfect  charity  with  all  men  ;  so  shall 
ye  be  meet  partakers  of  those  holy  mysteries.  And  above  all 
things,"  &c.,  to  "  everlasting  life,"  as  now  used.  It  then  proceeded 
thus :  "  And  to  the  end  that  we  should  alway  remember  the  ex- 
ceeding love  of  our  Master  and  only  Saviour,  Jesu  Christ,  thus 
dying  for  us,  and  the  innumerable  benefits  which  (by  his  precious 
blood-shedding)  he  hath  obtained  to  us,  he  hath  left  in  those  holy 
Mysteries,  as  a  pledge  of  his  love,  and  a  continual  remembrance 
of  the  same,  his  own  blessed  body,  and  precious  blood,  for  us  to 
feed  upon  spiritually,  to  our  endless  comfort  and  consolation. 
To  Him,  therefore,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  let  us 

give,"  &c  in  true  holiness  and  righteousness  all  the 

days  of  our  life.  Amen." 

So  averse  were  our  Reformers  to  long  exhortations,  that  in  case 
there  had  been  a  sermon  or  homily,  or  portion  of  one  of  the 
homilies  in  which  the  people  had  been  exhorted  to  receive  worthi- 
ly, it  might  be  omitted.  In  Cathedral  Churches  and  other  places 
where  there  was  daily  Communion,  it  was  sufficient  to  use  it, 
doubtless  under  the  same  alternative,  once  a  month.  In  Parish 
Churches,  where  the  Communion  was  on  Sundays  and  holy  days 
only,  it  might  be  left  unsaid  upon  the  week  days.  But  in  case  the 
people  neglected  to  come  to  Communion  on  Sundays  and  holy 
days,  the  priest  was  ordered  earnestly  to  exhort  his  parishioners 
in  *'  these  or  like  words."  That  is,  he  might,  if  he  pleased,  exhort 
them  in  a  sermon,  or  homily  of  like  import,  if  he  preferred  it. 

"  Dear  friends,  and  you  especially  upon  whose  souls  I  have  care 
and  charge,  on  next,  I  do  intend,  by  God's  grace,  to  offer 

to  all  such  as  shall  be  godly  disposed,  the  most  comfortable  Sa- 
crament of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  to  be  taken  of  them  in 


FROM  COiNNECTICUT. 


19 


the  remembrance  of  his  most  fruitful  and  glorious  Passion  :  by  the 
which  passion  we  have  obtained  remission  of  our  sins,  and  be 
made  partakers  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven;  whereof  we  be  as- 
sured and  ascertained,  if  we  come  to  the  said  Sacrament  with 
hearty  repentance  for  our  offences,  steadfast  faith  in  Grod's  mercy, 
and  earnest  mind  to  obey  God's  will  and  to  offend  no  more. 
Wherefore  our  duty  is  to  come  to  these  holy  mysteries  with  most 
hearty  thanks  to  be  given  to  Almighty  G-od,for  his  infinite  mercy 
and  benefits  given  and  bestowed  upon  us  his  unworthy  servants, 
for  whom  he  hath  not  only  given  his  body  to  death,  and  shed  his 
blood,  but  also  doth  vouchsafe,  in  a  Sacrament  and  Mystery,  to 
give  us  his  said   body  and  blood  to  feed  upon  spiritually.  The 
which  Sacrament  being  so  Divine  and  holy  a  thing,  and  so 
comfortable  to  them  who  receive  it  worthily,  and  so  dangerous  to 
them  who  will  presume  to  take  the  same  unworthily  :    My  duty 
is,  to  exhort  you,  in  the  mean  season,  to  consider  the  greatness  of 
the  thing,  and  to  search  and  examine  your  own  consciences,  and 
that  not  lightly  nor  after  the  manner  of  dissimulers  with  God ; 
but  as  they  which  should  come  to  a  most  godly  and  heavenly  Ban- 
quet; not  to  come  but  in  the  marriage  garment  required  of  God 
in  Scripture  that  you  may  (so  much  as  lieth  in  you)  be  found 
worthy  to  come  to  such  a  table.     The  way  and  means  thereto  is  : 
"  First,  that  you  be  truly  repentant  of  your  former  evil  life  ;  and 
that  you  confess  with  an  unfeigned  heart  to  Almighty  God,  your 
sins  and  unkindness  towards  his  Majesty  committed,  either  by  will, 
word,  or  deed,  infirmity  or  ignorance  ;  and  that  with  inward  sor- 
row and  tears,  you  bewail  your  offences,  and  require  of  Almighty 
God  mercy  and  pardon,  promising  to  him  (from  the  bottom  of  your 
hearts)  the  amendment  of  your  former  life.  And  amongst  all  oth- 
ers, I  am  commanded  of  God  especially  to  move  and  exhort  yotJ, 
to  reconcile  yourselves  to  your  neighbour,  whom  you  have  offend- 
ed, or  who  hath  offended  you,  putting  out  of  your  hearts  all 
hatred  and  malice  against  them,  and  to  be  in  love  and  charity  with 
all  the  world,  and  to  forgive  other,  as  you  would  that  God  should 
forgive  you. 

**And  if  any  man  have  done  wrong  to  any  other,  let  him  make 
satisfaction, and  due  restitution  of  all  lands  and  goods,  wrongfully 
taken  away  or  witholden,  befure  he  comes  to  God's  board;  or  at 
least,  be  in  full  mind  and  purpose  so  to  do,  as  soon  as  he  is  able ; 
or  else  let  him  not  come  to  this  holy  table,  thinking  to  deceive 


20 


A  TOICE 


God,  who  seeth  all  men's  hearts.  For  neither  the  absolution  of 
the  priest  can  anything  avail  them,  nor  the  receiving  of  this  holy 
Sacrament  doth  anything  but  increase  their  damnation.  And  if 
there  be  any  of  you  whose  conscience  is  troubled  and  grieved  in 
anything,  lacking  comfort  or  counsel,  let  him  come  to  me,"  (his 
own  spiritual  guide,)  "or  to  some  other  discreet  and  learned  priest, 
taught  in  the  law  of  God,  and  confess  and  open  his  sin  and  grief 
secretly,  that  he  may  receive  such  ghostly  counsel,  advice  and 
comfort,  that  his  conscience  may  be  relieved,  and  that  of  us,  (as  of 
the  Ministers  of  God  and  of  the  Church,)  he  may  receive  com- 
fort and  Absolution,  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  mind  and  avoidinti 
of  all  scruple  and  doubtfulness ;  requiring  such  as  shall  be  satis- 
fied with  a  general  confession,  not  to  be  offended  with  them  that 
do  use,  to  their  further  satisfying,  the  auricular  and  secret  con- 
fession to  the  Priest ;  nor  those  also  which  think  needful  or  con- 
venient, for  the  quietness  of  their  own  consciences,  particularly 
to  open  their  sins  to  the  Priest,  to  be  offended  with  them  that  are 
satisfied  with  their  humble  confession  to  God,  and  the  general 
confession  to  the  Church.  But  in  all  things  to  follow  and  keep 
the  rule  of  charity  ;  and  every  man  to  be  satisfied  with  his  own 
conscience,  not  judging  other  men's  minds  or  consciences  ;  where- 
as he  hath  no  command  of  God's  vrord  to  the  same." 

Peter  Martyr  *'  confessed  that  we  truly  or  really  receive  tli© 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  in  this  Holy  Sacrament,"  and  that  "  the 
Holy  Spirit  operates  effeatually  in''  both  tht  Sacraments ^  by  vir- 
tue of  our  Saviour's  institution.'"  So  also  did  Bucer  ;  and  he 
admitted  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  first  Liturgy  which  did  not 
agree  with  the  Word  of  God,  or  at  least  nothing  contrary  to  it. 
He  also  asfreed  with  the  English  Reformers  as  to  the  need  of 
restoring  frequent  Communion.*  If  so,  where  was  the  necessity 
of  changing  the  first  Office  ?  Innovations,  even  for  the  better,  are 
apt  to  produce  discontent,  especially  among  those  who  feel  more 
than  they  reason  ;  and  a  change  in  three  years  in  the  Prayer-Book, 
would  seem  to  argue  instability  and  error,  just  as  the  changes  in 
the  Roman  Bible  from  1590  to  1592  argued  against  the  proud 
claim  of  Papal  infallibility.  In  the  case  of  the  Prayer-Book,  and 
especially  in  the  Exhortations  now  given,  the  change  in  1552  was 
not  for  the  better.    But  as  an  apology  for  the  English  Reformers, 

*See  Collier,  rol.  2,  pp.  273,  296, 


PROM  CONNECTICUT. 


21 


must  be  added,  what  could  not  be  said  of  the  Popes  Sixtus  V. 
and  Clement  VIII.,  that  they  had  to  contend  on  every  side  with 
great  difficulties.  The  people,  under  the  long  influence  of  Latin 
services  and  Mediaeval  corruptions,  were  grossly  ignorant. 
Though  the  Clergy  retained  the  primitive  practice  of  daily  Com- 
munion, it  had,  in  Parish  Churches,  degenerated  into  a  solitary 
Mass.  The  laity  were  suffered  to  neglect  the  Communion  except- 
ing at  Easter,  and  were  willing  to  be  excused  from  the  Cup, 
which  they  loathed,  because  they  were  taught  that  the  priest  had 
changed  it  into  natural  blood.  The  Eucharist  was  considered  aa 
a  piacular  sacrifice  ;  though  all  such  sacrifice  had  been  terminated 
forever  on  the  Cross,  The  laity  had  been  taught  that  one  such 
sacrifice,  once  a  year,  was  sufficient  for  them,  and  a  fictitious 
Sacrament  of  Penance  had  been  substituted  instead  of  that  "sac- 
rifice of  praise  and  thanksgiving "  which  commemorated  the 
great  sin  offering,  and  constantly  applied  its  blessings  to  the  pen- 
itent soul. 

Yet  with  wonderful  wisdom  all  these  abuses  were  jxuarded 
against,  and  the  opposite  truths  maintained  in  the  two  short 
exhortations  of  which  I  have  given  the  substance.  In  the 
first,  as  being  addressed  to  those  who  arc  already  "  minded  to 
receive  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour 
Christ,"  the  people  are  cautioned  and  warned  "  diligently  to  try 
and  examine  themselves,''  and  not  to  come  unless  they  are  "truly 
worry  "  for  their  sins,  "  do  trust  themselves  to  he  reconciled  to  God," 
which  they  cannot  be  unless  they  leave  their  sins,  and  have  "  that 
earnest  and  lively  faith  in  Christ "  which  worketh  by  love.  In  the 
latter,  addressed  to  those  who  neglect  to  come  every  Sunday  and 
holy  day  to  the  Communion,  they  are  told  that  although  the  **  most 
fruitful  and  glorious  passion  "  of  Christ  has  already  obtained  re- 
mission of  sins  even  for  the  most  guilty,  yet  is  the  constant  remem- 
brance of  it  in  the  Sacrament,  necessary  to  assure  and  ascertain  it 
to  the  penitent,  faithful  and  obedient  soul.  They  are  required  to 
"  confess  with  an  unfeigned  heart  to  Almighty  God;"  to  "require 
of  Him  mercy  and  pardon  to  "  promise  Him  from  the  bottom 
of  their  hearts,  the  amendment  of  their  former  life;  of  sins  com- 
mitted by  win,  word  or  deed,  infirmity  or  ignorance."  They 
are  told,  that  unless  they  redress  the  wrongs  done  to  others, 
**  NEiTHEi^  THK  ABSOLUTION  OF  THE  PRIEST,"  noT  the  receiving 
of  the   Holy  Sacrament   can  avail  aught   before   God,  who 


22 


A  VOICE 


seeth  all^  men's  hearts.  If,  then,  in  the  secret  examination  of 
themselves,  their  consciences  are  so  troubled  that  they  need  com- 
fort or  counsel,  it  is  recommended  to  them  to  confess  and  open 
their  sin  and  grief  secretly  to  some  discreet  and  learned  priest, 
taught  in  the  law  of  God,  that  by  his  spritual  counsel,  advice  and 
comfort,  their  consciences  might  be  relieved.  They  are  then  re- 
quired to  follow  and  keep  the  rule  of  charity  with  regard  to  other 
men's  consciences.  Those  who  were  "  satisfied  with  a  general 
confession^^  should  not  be  offended  with  them  who  prefer  '"the 
auricular  and  secret  confession  to  the  Priest  ;"  nor  should  "  those 
who  for  the  quieting  of  their  own  consciences  think  it  needful  or 
suitable,  particularly  to  open  their  sins  to  the  priest,  be  offended 
with  them  that  are  satisfied  with  their  humble  Confession  to  God, 
and  the  general  Confession  to  the  Church."  When  it  is  recol- 
lected that  in  the  prayer-book  of  1549,  there  was  no  other  general 
Confession  but  that  of  the  Communion  Service,  it  will  be  seen  that 
*'  the  comfoit  and  absolution  to  be  received  of  the  ministers  of 
God  and  of  ihe  Church,"  is  the  comfoi  t  and  absolution  which  fol- 
lows the  general  Confession  to  the  Church  at  the  Holy  Communion^ 
This,  in  the  first  lAinrg^ ,  folloiced  the  consecration  of  the  ele- 
ments, and  immediately  'preceded  the  receiving  and  delivery  of  the 
mystical  body  and  blood. 

Ilf. 

If  these  exhortations  had  been  continued,  as  they  came  from 
the  Convocation  of  1548,  even  to  the  present  time,  they  would,  I 
think,  have  prevented  many  subsequent  evils,  and  especially  all 
dispute  concei-ning  the  limits  of  Auricular  Confession.  Yet  with 
all  the  changes  occasioned  by  the  fluctuations  of  the  English 
Government,  and  introduced  from  1552  to  1662,  the  Church  of 
England  adhered  in  fact  to  the  great  principle  that  Absolution 
is  inseparably  connected  with  the  administration  of  Baptism 
and  the  Holy  Communion  ;  and  notwithstanding  her  subse- 
quent trials,  she  has  ever  retained  it,  even  to  this  day.  The  first 
violation  of  this  great  principle,  as  far  as  the  Holy  Communion  is 
concerned,  [  am  obliged  to  confess,  with  shame  and  sorrow,  was 
committed  after  the  American  Revolution,  and  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  The  Book,  proposed  by  the  seven  States  south  of  New 
England,  in  their  Convention  of  17S5,  however  great  and  cen- 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


23 


surable  were  its  innovations,  lias  the  merit  of  more  carefully  dis- 
tinguishing this  great  principle ;  for  in  the  order  for  daily  morn- 
ing and  evening  prayer,  it  called  the  Absolution  of  1552,  what 
it  was  in  reality,  a  dedaration  concerning  the  forgiveness  of  :sins; 
while  it  confined  to  the  Communion  Office,  and  ordered  to  be 
said  by  the  Bishop,  if  present,  the  true  Absolution  of  1549.  It 
was  reserved  for  the  Convention  of  September  and  October,  1789, 
to  violate  the  great  principle  of  which  I  speak.  The  prayer-book 
of  1789,  for  the  first  time  in  the  annals  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
degraded  the  trjte  Absolution  by  making  it  a  substitute  for  that 
which  it  rightly  termed  only  a  "  dcclaraiion  of  Absolution."  It  is 
allowed  to  be  used  to  a  promiscuous  congregation,  baptized  or 
unbaptized,  many  of  whom  may  be  notorious  evil-livei's,  and  oth- 
ers, who  are  not  grossly  immoral,  negligent  of  their  Christian 
duties,  turning  perpetually  from  the  Lord's  Table,  and  even  to 
their  dying  day  out  of  Communion,  if  not  out  of  the  Church, 
and  living  without  the  appointed  means  of  grace  and  salvation. 
Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Laity  should  set  no  value  upon 
such  Absolution  ]  or  that  the  Clergy  should  come  to  regard 
it  as  a  lifeless  form  ?  I  have  myself  heard  a  priest  pronounce  this 
solemn  Absolution  to  a  mixed  congregation,  while  his  Bishop 
was  sitting  at  the  altar,  and  afterwards  heard  the  Bishop  pro- 
nounce to  the  Communicants  that  same  Absolution,  because  to 
them  it  was  unlawful  for  the  priest  in  his  presence  to  utter  it. 
Every  one  who  considers  Absolution  as  a  reality,  will  see  at  once 
the  inconsistency  of  such  a  violation  with  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Church.  How  then  could  it  have  been  committed  at  a  Con- 
vention where  Bishop  Seabury  and  the  Clergy  of  Connecticut  had 
a  voice  ]  To  answer  this  question,  and  to  exonerate  the  Bishop 
and  Clergy  of  Connecticut,  we  must  go  as  briefly  as  possible  into 
the  history  of  the  violation. 

The  remote  cause  of  all  the  changes  in  the  American  Prayer- 
Book  vvas  the  political  condition  of  England  after  the  Revolution 
of  1688,  and  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Hanover  in  1715. 
The  violent  suppression  of  the  Convocation  in  1717,  made  the 
Church  subservient  to  the  State,  and  threw  all  power  in  matters 
Ecclesiastical,  into  the  hands  of  a  lay  Parliajnent.  The  voices 
of  the  Bishops  in  the  House  of  Lords  were  too  few  and  feeble 
to  have  much  influence.  They  became  timid  and  desponding.  A 
general  coldness  and  torpor  came  over  the  Church  which  extend- 


24 


A  VOICE 


etl  itseU'  to  those  Colonies  in  which  the  Church  of  England  was 
by  law  establisheJ,  or  where  at  least  it  was  favoured  by  the  civil 
government.  It  was  not  so  in  New  England.  That  province  of 
the  British  crown  had  local  Legislatures  independent  of  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament,  and  an  established  religion  of  its  own  which  ruled 
over  its  civil  authorities  with  a  rod  of  iron.  This  establishment, 
while  it  affected  to  have  no  oilier  king  but  Jesus,  tore  from  his 
sacred  head  the  crown  of  his  sovereignty.  It  took  the  crook 
from  the  hand  of  the  good  Shepherd,  and  gave  innumerable  lit- 
tle crooks  to  the  sheep.  In  its  own  way  it  ex<  rcised  as  des- 
potic an  inquisition  as  Rome.  It  fined  and  imprisoned,  and 
often  treated  with  still  greater  barbariles,  all  whose  consciences 
would  not  pe'rmit  them  to  walk  according  to  its  rule.  What 
worldly  motive  had  our  clergy  and  laity  to  believe  in  Episco- 
pacy as  giving  sanction  and  validity  to  the  Sacraments  1  Their  own 
miserable  condition  led  them  to  look  back  upon  the  suffering  prim- 
itive Church  before  the  days  of  Constantine,  and  to  sympathize 
with  the  Catholic  remainder  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  situated 
like  themselves  under  the  ban  of  a  corrupt  civil  establishment. 
The  moment  their  consciences  were  relieved  by  a  separation  from 
the  crown  of  England,  and  by  the  bill  of  rights  of  the  American 
Revolution,  which  undermined  the  tyranny  of  the  New  England 
religious  establishment,  they  took  measures  to  obtain  the  Episco- 
pate. They  considered  all  attempts  to  organize  the  Church  and 
revise  the  Prayer-Book,  as  irregular,  without  Episcopal  authority. 
The  great  desire  of  their  hearts  was  accomplished  on  the  four- 
teenth of  November,  1784,  by  the  consecration  of  the  Right  Rev- 
erend Dr.  Samuel  Seabury.  He  was  received  by  his  clergy  at 
Middletown  early  in  the  following  year,  and  what  had  before 
been  only  a  voluntary  Convention  was  now  resolved  into  a  Con- 
vocation :  a  term  which  implies  the  necessity  of  being  convoked 
by  Episcopal  authority.  Connecticut  was  now  a  Church  in  the 
primitive  sense  of  the  term,  entirely  independent  of  all  foreign 
aid,  and  having  the  approbation  and  support  of  the  clergy  gen- 
erally in  the  other  New  England  States.  All  looked  with  alarm 
upon  the  proceedings  of  their  Southern  brethren.  Not  the  least 
trace  of  union  with  them  existed  for  live  years.*    So  little  hope 

*  The  Report  of  ;i  General  Ecclesiastical  Constitutiou  (Bioreii,  p.  8,)  speaks 
of  a  meeting  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies,  in  New  York,  in  October,  1784,  in 
which  the  States  of  Massachusettci,  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  were  in- 


rROM  COIVNECTrCUT. 


25 


was  there  at  union  from  the  lempor  displayed  in  the  Conven- 
tion of  the  seven  States,  in  June  1786,*  that  the  Clergy  of  Con- 
necticut elected  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Hubbard  and  Jar  vis  to  pro- 
ceed to  Scotland  for  Consecration  ;  and  it  was  confidently  ex- 
pected that  a  like  measure  would  be  taken  in  Massachusetts.  In 
that  case,  New  England  would  have  been  a  Province  by  itself, 
and  so  would  have  acted  independently,  with  a  complete  organiza- 
tion. In  Connecticut  the  order  of  morning  and  evening  prayer, 
and  the  Litany  of  the  Church  of  England,  were  continued  as  in 
1662  without  the  state  prayers;  but  the  Bishop  in  Convocation 
set  forth  a  Communion  Service,  modelled  on  that  of  1549,  which 
becanio  then  the  Liturgy  of  the  Diocese.  This  took  place  in  1786, 
The  amiable  and  conciliatory  conduct  of  Bishop  White  pre- 
vented this  rupture.  A  movement  of  the  clergy  of  Massachusetts 
and  New  Hampshire,  in  a  like  spirit  of  amity,  inviting  the  Bishops 
<af  Connecticut,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  to  unite  in  conse- 
crating the  Rev.  Edward  Bass  a.s  their  Bishoj^,  opened  the  door 
of  reconciliation,  in  July,  1789. t  The  Convention  was  adjourned 
to  the  29th  of  Sej)tember  in  that  year,  to  give  opportunity  for  the 
New  England  States  to  act.  The  Clergy  of  Connecticut  appoint- 
ed as  their  Proctors,  the  same  individuals  whom  they  had  before 
elected  for  Episcopal  Consecration  ;  but  they  did  not  give  to  their 
Proctors  full  authority.  They  reserved  to  themselves  the  right  of 
accepting. or  rejecting  the  tei-ms  of  future  union.  The  wisdom  of 
this  reservation  will  now  be  made  manifest  by  the  testimony  of 
one  of  the  Proctors,  which  has  never  yet  been  published,  and 
which  I  give  in  his  own  words.  In  answei-  to  the  eighth  in  a  se- 
ries of  questions  proposed  to  him  by  Charles  James  Stuart,  Esq.,  # 
'*  What  alterations  from  the  Church  ef  England  in  the  Liturgy  or 
Common  Prayers  V  he  answered  thus  :  "  A  comparison  of  the 
two  books  by  inspection  will  discover  the  alterations  more  effect- 
ually as  well  as  more  briefly,  than  any  enumeration  which  could 
here  be  made.  The  causes  of  those  alterations  may  not  be  so  ea- 
sily perceived.    In  September,  1789,  delegates  from  ten  of  the 

•  luded;  but  that  is  clearly  a  mistake.  Bishop  AVhite,  in  his  preface  to  Bio- 
yen's  Collection,  iickuowledges  this.  As  for  Connecticut,  it  was  impossiblo  ; 
inv  Dr.  Seubury  was  then  preparing  lor  consecration,  and  the  Clergy  could  and 
would  do  nothing  till  his  arrival,  and  the  organization  of  his  Diocese. 

*See  the  motion  made  by  Mr.  (afterwards  Bishopj  I'revost,  of  New  York 
and  seconded  by  Mr.  (afterwards  Bi.shop)  Sniiih.  of  South  Carohna. — Biorm 
p.  21. 

t  Bioren,  p.  49 — 54.  4 


26 


A  VOICE 


then  thirteen  States,  consisting  of  Clergymen  and  Lay-members 
of  the  Church,  met  at  Philadelphia,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
union.  To  accomplish  this,  it  was  necessary  to  make  some  alter- 
ations in  the  Prayer-book,  which,  as  the  offspring  of  the  Church 
of  England,  the  American  Church  still  looked  upon  as  its  own. 
With  respect  to  the  extent  of  the  proposed  alterations,  the  Con- 
vention was  equally  divided.  The  delegates  from  five  of  the 
States,  viz :  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New 
York  and  New  Jersey,  were  averse  from  any  alterations,  except 
the  omission  or  adaptation  of  particular  prayers  in  the  daily  ser- 
vice to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Of  the  two  Bishops 
present,  (Bishop  Seabury  and  Bishop  White,)  the  former  advo- 
cated the  alteration  in  the  Communion  Service  and  the  addition  of 
some  occasional  prayers ;  in  all  other  particulars,  he  strenuously 
opposed  even  such  as  were  verbal.  Strong  impressions  that  a 
disunion  would  work  ruin  to  the  American  Church,  induced  that 
part  of  the  Convention  most  attached  to  her  interest  and  sound 
doctrine,  to  submit  to  a  compromise,  in  hopes  that  at  some  future 
day  the  true  friends  of  the  Church  would  be  enabled  to  correct 
those  defects  to  which  the  want  of  right  principle  and  the  fervour 
for  innovation  in  their  opponents  had  obliged  them  reluctantly  to 
consent.  This  may  account  for  all  the  departures  from  the  Eng- 
lish Prayer-book,  and  for  the  latitude  given  in  many  rubrics  to  the 
officiating  minister,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  diversity  in  the 
use  of  the  Liturgy." 

I  forbear  to  enter  into  any  additional  illustration  of  these 
changes  by  verbal  testimony  often  received  from  the  same  source, 
except  to  state  the  remarkable  fact,  that  notwithstanding  all  the 
prejudices  against  Bishop  Seabury  which  existed  in  the  minds  of 
some  of  the  deputies,  principally  of  the  Laity,  from  the  States  of 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  all  the  alterations 
which  he  specially  advocated  were  passed  loithout  a  dissenting 
voice.  I  look  with  devout  thankfulness  to  God,  that  the  Prayer  of 
Consecration  from  the  Connecticut  Liturgy,  modelled  as  I  have 
said  on  that  of  1549,  was  admitted  without  opposition  and  in  si- 
le7ice,  if  not  in  reverence.  In  common  with  the  Clergy  and  Laity 
of  the  five  Northern  States,  the  Bishop  lamented  the  exclusion  of 
the  Athanasian  Creed,  the  displacement  of  the  Nicene,  as  the 
Creed  of  Communion,  and  the  false  views  of  Absolution  which 
broke  down  the  distinction  between  Communicants  and  Non-com- 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


27 


municants ;  bat  he,  as  well  as  they,  confidently  looked  forward  to 
the  rising  of  a  better  day,  when  these  defects  might  be  corrected. 
That  day  may  not  yet  have  arrived ;  bat  Church  principles  have 
ever  since  been  steadily  advancing  in  their  influence ;  and  if  kept 
within  their  proper  bounds,  by  the  increase  of  correct  learning 
among  our  Clergy,  and  the  diffusion  of  a  more  fervent  and  devout 
spirit  among  our  Laity,  they  will  finally  be  shed  abroad  in  every 
portion  of  our  land. 

IV. 

Connecticut  suffered  much  for  the  sake  of  union  ;  but  the 
Bishop  and  her  Clerical  Proctors,  on  their  return  from  the  Con- 
vention of  1789,  did  all  in  their  power  to  reconcile  the  Clergy  and 
people  to  the  use  of  the  New  Prayer  Book.  Wiih  the  exception 
of  Stratford,  where  the  influence  of  Dr.  Johnson's  memory  was 
still  powerful,  they  finally  succeeded.  At  a  Convocation  of  the 
Clergy  held  at  Newtown,  the  last  of  September,  1790,  "on  the 
question  being  put,  *  whether  we  confirm  the  doings  of  our  Proc- 
tors in  the  General  Convention  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  2d  day  of 
October,  1789  V  it  passed  in  the  affirmative,"  by  the  votes  of  every 
member  present,  one  only  excepted,  who  entered  his  protest  and 
left  the  Convocation.  This  was  the  Clergyman  of  Stratford.  It 
occasioned  some  trouble ;  but  by  the  mild  and  conciliatory  meas- 
ures of  the  Bishop  and  Clergy,  the  schism  was  soon  healed.  The 
Convocation  left  it  to  the  prudence  of  each  member  to  introduce 
the  New  Book  among  his  parishicmers ;  and  it  was  solemnly 
"  agreed,  that  in  the  use  of  the  new  Prayer  Book,  we  he  as  uniform  as 
possible,  and  for  that  pnrjwse  that  we  approach  as  near  the  Old  Lit- 
urgy, as  a  compliance  with  the  Rubrics  of  the  New  will  aUow^  Thus 
did  the  Bishop  and  Clergy  of  Connecticut,  in  Convocation  assem- 
bled, and  in  the  very  Act  by  which  they  received  the  New  Prayer 
Book,  establish  as  a  fundamental  rule  of  uniformity,  that  in  all  the 
rubrics  which  allowed  a  diversity  of  practice,  the  Old  or  English 
Prayer  Book  should  constitute  the  usage  or  observance  of  this  Di- 
ocese. That  act  of  Convocation  has  never  been  rescinded  to  this 
day,  and  I  trust  never  will  be  rescinded.  It  follows,  therefore,  that 
Connecticut  has  never  approved  the  use  of  the  proper  Absolution, 
excepting  to  persons  who  are  in  full  communion  with  the  Church. 


28 


A  VOICE 


V. 

I  miglit  now  proceed  to  show,  from  the  published  writings  of 
Bishop  Seabury,  his  views  on  the  necessity  of  the  two  Sacraments 
for  the  remission  of  sins.  His  discourses  on  the  Authority  of 
Christ's  Ministers,  their  duties,  and  the  duties  of  the  people  towards 
them ;  those  on  the  Apostolical  Commission,  on  Baptism,  Confirm- 
ation, and  the  Holy  Eucharist ;  and  that  on  Christian  Unity,  now 
circulated  as  a  tract  among  the  Christians  of  the  East ;  all  express 
fully  those  Catholic  truths  of  the  primitive  Church,  which  the 
English  Martyrs  had  embodied  in  the  Prayer-Book  of  1549.  I 
shall  content  myself  with  a  single  extract,  which  very  briefly  and 
happily  discriminates  the  Catholic  faith  from  all  sectarian  views  of 
the  Eucharist,  and  points  out  the  benefits  it  conveys  to  the  worthy 
communicant. 

"There  is  therefore,  in  this  holy  institution,  no  ground  for  the  er- 
rors of  transubstantiation,  consubstantiation,  or  the  bodily  presence 
of  Christ,  with  which  the  Church  of  Rome,  Luther  and  Calvin, 
have  deceived,  beguiled,  and  perplexed  the  Church.  The  bread 
and  wine  are,  in  their  nature,  still  bread  and  wine. — They  are  not 
transubstantiated  into  the  natural  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  as  the 
Papists  teach. — The  natural  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  not  con- 
substantiated  with  them,  so  as  to  make  one  substance,  as  the  Lu- 
therans teach. — Nor  are  the  natural  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in- 
fused into  them,  nor  hovering  over  them,  so  as  to  be  confusedly 
received  with  them,  as  Calvin  and  his  followers  seem  to  teach  ;  for 
they  are  far  from  being  intelligible  on  the  subject.  The  natural 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  in  heaven,  in  glory  and  exaltation. — 
We  receive  them  not  in  the  Communion,  in  any  sense.  The  bread 
and  wine  are  his  body  and  blood,  sacramentally  and  by  represent- 
ation. And,  as  it  is  an  established  maxim,  that  all  who,  under  the 
law,  did  eat  of  the  sacrifice  with  those  qualifications  which  the 
sacrifice  required,  were  partakers  of  its  benefits  ;  so  all  who,  un- 
der the  gospel,  eat  of  the  Christian  sacrifice  of  bread  and  wine, 
with  those  qualification.^  which  the  holy  solemnity  requires,  are 
made  partakers  of  all  the  benefits  and  blessings  of  that  sacrifice  of 
his  natural  body  and  blood,  which  Christ  Jesus  made,  when,  under 
the  symbols  of  bread  and  wine,  he  offered  them  to  God,  a  propi- 
tiation for  the  sin  of  the  world. 

**  I  am  not  sensible  that,  in  this  explanation  of  the  mystery  of 
the  Eucharist,  I  have  departed  from  the  letter,  or  sense,  or  spirit 
of  the  Holy  Scripture  :  and,  in  support  of  it,  I  appeal  to  the  early 
writers,  and  first  liturgies  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  cannot  be 
supposed,  that  those  early  writers  were  ignorant  of  the  doctrines 
and  practice  of  the  Church  in  their  own  time;  or  that  they  would 
wilfully  misrepresent  them.    Nor  could  they  be  ignorant  of  the 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


29 


doctrines  and  practice  of  the  Apostles  :  at  least,  they  had  better 
and  surer  means  of  information  than  we  can  have,  especially  if  we 
disregard  their  testimony.  For,  they  had  the  same  Gospels  and 
Apostolical  writings  that  we  have  :  they  understood  the  language 
in  which  they  were  written,  and  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
age,  blotter  than  we  do  :  and,  the  tradition  of  Apostolical  practice 
passed  but  few  hands,  before  it  came  to  them. 

The  first  liturgies  may  bi^  supposed  to  have  been  corrupted 
by  the  interpolation  of  some  of  the  errors  of  subsequent  times. 
Should  this  be  granted,  it  will  not  follow  that  no  credit  is  due  to 
thera.  It  will  not  be  difficult,  by  comparing  them  together,  to 
detect  those  interpolations  and  errors :  and  of  this  we  may  be 
sure,  that  those  principles  in  which  they  all  agree  (differing  only 
in  expression)  must  be  the  remains  of  Apostolical  Antiquity. 

"  By  attending  to  these,  we  shall  not  only  see  the  order  and  pro- 
cess of  the  consecration  of  the  holy  elements,  but  also  the  princi- 
ples on  which  their  practice  was  founded — 

At  the  time  of  the  celebration,  the  officiating  Bishop,  or  Priest, 
first  gave  thanks  to  God  for  all  his  mercies,  especially  lor  those  of 
creation  and  redemption.  Then,  to  show  the  authority  by  which 
he  acts,  and  his  obedience  to  the  command  of  Christ,  he  recites 
the  institution  of  the  Holy  Sacrament  which  he  is  celebrating,  as 
the  Holy  Evangelists  have  recorded  it.  In  doing  this,  he  takes 
the  bread  into  his  hands  and  breaks  it,  to  represent  the  dead  body 
of  Christ,  torn  and  pierced  on  the  cross ;  the  cup,  also,  of  wine 
and  water  mixed,  representing  the  blood  and  water  which  flowed 
from  the  dead  body  of  Christ,  when  wounded  by  the  soldier's 
spear.  Over  the  bread  and  the  cup  he  repeats  Christ's  powerful 
words.  This  is  My  Body — This  is  My  Blood.  The  elements  be- 
ing thus  made  authoritative  representations,  or  symbols  of  Christ's 
crucified  body  and  blood,  are  in  a  proper  capacity  to  be  offered  to 
God  as  the  great  and  acceptable  sacrifice  of  the  Christijni  Church. 
Accordingly,  the  Oblation,  which  is  the  highest,  most  solemn,  and 
proper  act  of  Christian  worship,  is  then  immediately  mude.  Con- 
tinuing his  prayer,  the  Priest  intercedes  with  the  Almighty  Father, 
to  send  upon  them  (the  bread  and  wine)  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  sanc- 
tify and  bless  them,  and  make  the  bread  the  lody,  and  the  cup  the 
bloody  of  Christ — his  spiritual  life-giving  body  and  blood  in  power 
and  virtue;  that,  to  all  the  faithful,  they  may  be  effectual  to  all 
spiritual  purposes.  Nor  does  he  cease  his  prayer  and  oblation, 
till  he  has  interceded  for  the  whole  Catholic  Church,  and  :ill  the 
members  of  it — Concluding  all  in  the  name  and  through  the  merit 
of  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour. 

*•  The  Eucharist  being,  as  its  name  imports,  a  sacrifice  of  thanks- 
giving, the  bread  and  wine,  after  they  have  been  offered  or  given 
to  God,  and  blessed  and  sanctified  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  are  return- 
ed by  the  hand  of  his  Minister  to  be  eaten  by  the  faithful,  as  a 
Feast  upon  ike  Sacrifice — the  Priest  first  partaking  of  them  him- 
self, and  then  distributing  them  to  the  Communicants;  to  denote 


30 


A  VOICE 


their  being  al  peace  and  in  favour  with  God,  being  thus  fed  at  his 
table,  and  eating  of  his  food  ;  and  also  to  convey  to  the  worthy 
receivers  all  the  benefits  and  blessings  of  Christ's  natural  body 
and  blood,  which  were  offered  and  slain  for  their  redemption. 

"For  this  reason,  the  Eucharist  is  also  called  the  Communion 
of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ ;  not  only  because,  by  communi- 
cating together,  we  declare  our  mutual  love  and  good  will,  and 
our  unily  in  ihe  Church  and  faith  of  Christ ;  but  also,  because,  in 
that  holy  ordinance,  we  communicate  with  God  through  Christ 
the  Mediator,  by  first  offering,  or  giving  to  him  the  sacred  sym- 
bols of  the  body  and  blood  of  his  dear  Son,  and  then  receiving 
them  again,  blessed  and  sanctified  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  feast  upon 
at  his  table,  for  the  refreshment  of  our  souls  ;  for  the  increase  of 
our  faith  and  hope  ;  for  the  pardon  of  our  sins ;  for  the  renewing 
of  our  minds  in  holiness,  by  the  operation  of  the  holy  Ghost;  and 
for  a  principle  of  immortality  to  our  bodies,  as  well  as  to  our  souls. 

"  From  this  consideration,  the  necessity  of  frequently  communi- 
cating in  the  Holy  Eucharist  evidently  appears.  It  is  the  highest 
act  of  Christian  worship;  a  direct  acknowledgment  of  God's 
sovereignty  and  dominion  over  us,  and  over  all  his  creatures.  It 
is  the  memorial  of  the  passion  and  death  of  our  dear  Redeemer, 
made  before  the  Almighty  Father,  to  render  him  propitious  to  us, 
by  pleading  with  him  the  meritorious  sufferings  of  his  beloved 
Son,  when  he  made  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin.  It  is  a  sensible 
pledge  of  God's  love  to  us,  who,  as  he  hath  given  his  Son  to  die 
for  us,  so  hath  he  given  his  precious  body  and  blood,  in  the  Holy 
Eucharist,  to  be  our  spiritual  food  and  sustenance  :  And  as  the 
bread  of  this  world,  frequently  taken,  is  necessary  to  keep  the 
body  in  health  and  vigour  ;  so  is  this  bread  of  God,  frequently 
received,  necessary  to  preserve  the  soul  in  spiritual  health,  and 
keep  the  divine  life  of  faith  and  holiness  from  becoming  extinct  in 
us.''' — Seahury^s  Discoitrses,  8vo.,  1793,  Vol.  1,  jjp.  179-183. 

Bishop  Seabury  had  no  Cathedral,  like  the  stately  pile  which 
now  covers  his  remains  ;*  nor  had  he  a  body  of  clergymen  at  the 
altar  with  whom  he  could  renew  the  primitive  and  apostolic  prac- 
tice which  he  commends,  of  daily  Communion.  [See  Disc.  I.,  Part 
I.,  p.  13. j  Such  observances  require  endowments;  and  his  deep 
poverty,  (for  he  was  obliged  to  support  himself  by  his  consummate 
skill  as  a  surgeon  and  physician,) — his  deep  poverty  and  the  hum- 
bler duties  and  labours  of  a  parish  priest,  would  not  permit  more 
than  Sunday  Communion.    In  this  he  continued  steadfast  to  his 

*  The  remains  of  Bishop  Seabury  were  transferred,  on  the  12th  of  last  Septem- 
ber, to  the  crypt  beneatli  tlie  Chancel  of  the  new  and  beautiful  Church  of  St. 
James  in  New  London.  The  Bishop's  monument,  which  is  an  Altar-tomb,  iu 
a  canopied  niche,  stands  immediately  above,  in  the  Chancel,  on  the  right  side 
of  the  Altar,  and  without  the  rails. 


FROM   GO.NNECl  ICUT. 


31 


d^dng  day,  labouring  lo  excite  in  bis  parisb  and  in  bis  Diocese 
that  sense  of  the  importance  of  frequent  Communion,  which  it 
was  a  prime  object  of  the  English  Reformation  to  revive.  If  he 
failed,  it  must  be  ascribed  to  the  infelicity  of  the  times,  and  the 
deep-seated  prejudices  and  false  views  of  the  nature  and  impor- 
tance of  the  Sacraments  which  pervade  New  England.  Speak- 
ing of  those  false  views,  he  observes  : 

*'  There  seems  to  be  an  opinion  prevailing  with  many,  which, 
probably,  prevents  their  compliance  with  the  institutions  of  relig- 
ion, more  than  any  thing  else — namely  :  Thar,  while  th.ey  refrain, 
they  may  freely  indulge  themselves  in  many  things,  which  would 
be  inconsistent  with  the  obligations  which  those  institutions  imply. 
But,  in  this  opinion,  several  mistakes  or  false  suppositions  are 
contained.  It  supposes  that  a  man  may  live  innocently,  and  be 
good  enough,  though  ho  live  in  constant  disobedience  to  God.  It 
supposes,  also,  that  a  compliance  with  the  ordinances  of  religion 
lays  new  duties  upon  him,  or  makes  that  unlawful  for  him,  which 
before  was  not  so,  and  those  practices  sinful  which  before  were 
innocent.  But  neither  of  these  suppositions  's  true.  He  that 
lives  in  disobedience  to  God,  lives  in  a  state  of  sin  :  For  sin 
is  neither  more  nor  less  than  disobedience  to  God.  And,  with 
regard  to  the  other  supposition — Though  it  be  acknowledged 
that  the  ordinances  of  religion  furnish  new  motives  for  doing  our 
duty,  and  supply  new  strength  to  perform  it ;  yet  our  compliance 
with  them  increases  neither  the  number  nor  magnitude  of  our  du- 
ties. What  can  be  done  consistently  with  a  good  conscience,  may 
always  be  done  ;  and  what  cannot  be  so  done,  ought  never  to 
be  done,  whether  we  comply  with  the  ordinances  of  religion  or 
not.  For  instance ;  it  is  a  man's  duty  to  renounce  the  devil  and 
his  works,  the  world  and  its  wicked  tempers,  and  the  evil  appe- 
tites and  passions  of  his  nature,  whether  he  be  baptized  or  not. 

"Another  false  supposition  contained  in  the  above  opinion  is,  that 
the  ordinances  of  religion  are  mere  arbitrary  institutions,  of  no 
value  in  themselves,  but  merely  to  show  God's  sovereign  power 
over  us.  That  they  are  arbitrary  institutions^  in  this  sense,  (that 
they  depend  entirely  on  the  will  of  God ;  and  that,  for  any  thing 
we  know,  he  might  have  omitted  these,  and  have  appointed  others)  is 
readily  granted.  It  is  also  acknowledged,  that  had  he  not  appointed 
them,  there  would  have  been  no  virtue  nor  goodness  in  them. 
But,  it  is  denied,  that  they  are  instances  of  his  sovereignty  intend- 
ed to  increase  the  burden  of  our  duty,  or  to  render  more  strait 
the  narrow  way  that  leadeth  unto  life.  They  are  intended  to  be 
privileges  and  blessings  to  us — to  put  us  in  that  narrow  way,  and 
to  keep  us  in  it — to  make  it  more  ])lain  and  easy  to  us  ;  and  to 
strengthen  and  refresh  us  in  our  progress  in  it.  He  that  refuseth 
them,  refuseth  his  own  good,  and  turns  away  from  blessings  which 
God  holds  out  to  him. 


32 


A  VOICE 


"  That  it  is  a  privilege  to  be  admitted  into  God's  family,  and 
made  one  of  his  children,  and  an  heir  of  the  heavenly  inheritance, 
no  one,  who  has  seriousness  to  think  about  il,  can  doubt.  This 
privilege  we  obtain  by  Baptism.  The  wilful  rejection  of  Bap- 
tism, therefore,  put  into  plain  language,  is — I  will  not  be  one  of 
God's  family,  nor  one  of  his  children — 1  like  this  world  and  its 
enjoyments,  which  religion  marks  as  extravagant,  too  well  to  give 
them  up ;  and,  I  find  too  much  gratification  in  my  appetites  and 
passions,  to  put  them  under  restraint.  And  as  to  the  works  of  the 
devil,  ihey  have  a  bad  name,  it  is  true,  but  I  see  no  great  harm  in 
them. — In  short,  let  them  seek  for  a  heavenly  inheritance  who 
choose  it.  This  world,  and  the  life  it  inspires,  is  enough  for  me  ; 
and  I  am  determined  to  enjoy  as  much  of  it  as  1  can." — Bishop 
Seabury's  Discourses,  ut  Sup.,  Vol.  1,  pp.  158 — 160. 

I  have  added  these  remarks  of  that  clear-minded  and  great 
writer,  because  they  are  as  applicable  now  as  they  were  then. 
We  cannot  get  rid  of  our  responsibilities.  They  are  inseparable 
from  our  being.  Every  man  has  a  soul  to  save,  or  a  soul  to  lo^e. 
If  saved,  it  must  be  reconciled  to  God.  If  the  Sacraments  are 
necessary  to  salvation,  or  reconciliation  with  God,  it  is  an  awful 
inquiry,  How  are  we  to  prepare  for  them  1  And  upon  that  ques- 
tion I  now  enter. 

VI. 

That  our  children  should  be  baptized  as  soon  as  possible  after 
their  natural  birth  ;  that  they  should  be  trained  to  know  what  a 
solemn  vow,  promise  and  profession  was  then  made ;  that  they 
should  be  brought  to  the  Bishop  to  be  confirmed,  as  soon  as  they 
know  what  is  necessary  for  their  souls'  health ;  that  they  should 
come  to  Communion  before  they  go  out  into  the  world,  as  a  safe- 
guard against  its  follies,  temptations  and  crimes  ;  are  truths  which 
no  right-minded  member  of  our  Church  will  question.  The  only 
cases  of  conscience  concerning  which  there  can  be  any  doubt  in 
the  minds  of  faithful,  earnest  men,  relate  to  Confession.  The 
general  duty  is  clear.  '*  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  de- 
ceive ourselves."  Before  the  High  and  Holy  One  who  inhabiteth 
eternity,  even  Seraphs  veil  their  faces,  and  His  angels  he  chargeth 
with  folly.  The  greatest  saint  upon  earth  is  a  sinner  saved  only 
by  the  blood  of  Christ.  To  be  more  and  more  conscious  of  sin, 
and  more  and  more  penitent  for  it,  is  an  evidence  to  our  ov^^n 
Bouls  of  their  increased  vitality  in  the  Christian  life.    Let  a  man 


FROM  CONNECTICUT, 


33 


examine  himself,  and  so  let  him  eat  of  that  bread  and  drink  of  that 
cup  which  are  the  Communion  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 
The  just  or  righteous  man  lives  by  his  faith ;  and  no  one  can 
properly  be  called  faithful,  who  does  not  receive  the  outward  and 
visible  sign  of  Chi  ist's  death  and  passion,  that  he  may  receive 
from  the  Holy  Ghost  the  inward  and  spiritual  grace.  For  our 
encouragement  the  gracious  promise  is  given,  "  If  we  confess  our 
sins,  God  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  snis."  He  is  faith- 
ful ;  for  what  He  hath  promised.  He  will  surely  keep  and  per- 
form. He  is  just ;  for  to  all  who  keep  the  conditions  He  imposes. 
He  conveys  the  Remission  of  sins  past,  and  more  grace  to  help  in 
future  time  of  need.  The  oftenor  this  confession  is  made,  the 
better.  It  ought  especially  to  be  made  every  night,  before  sleep, 
which  constantly  praefigures  death,  refreshes  the  care-worn  body 
and  anxious  soul,  for  the  resurrection  of  a  new  day.  At  that 
hour  of  stillness  and  seclusion,  the  faithful  penitent,  with  pros- 
trate body  and  uplifted  soul,  pours  forth  the  language  of  confes- 
sion and  prayer.  No  eye  seeth  him  but  that  which  saw  his  sub- 
stance yet  being  imperfect,  and  hath  known  every  thought  and 
word  and  deed,  from  infancy  through  his  past  life.  The  appall- 
ing consciousness  of  this  knowledge  is  tempered  by  the  conviction 
that  "God  is  love."  If  his  heart,  in  these  secret  searchings,  con- 
demns him,  God  is  orreater  than  his  heart  and  knoweth  all  thingrs  ; 
If  his  heart  condemn  him  not,  he  has  confidence  in  God.  On  the 
morrow  it  may  be,  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  his  minister,  will  present 
to  nim  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  absolution  and  reconcilia- 
tion, peace  with  God,  and  good  will  towards  men.  If  he  receives 
it  unworthily,  he  eateth  and  drinkelh  condemnation,  not  pardon; 
if  worthily,  it  is  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  freely  given  for  the 
redemption  and  sanctification  of  his  soul  and  body.  Oh,  with 
what  earnestness  will  he  prepare  for  that  solemn  act !  So  far,  he 
is  a  priest  unto  himself ;  for  he  is  one  of  that  elect  generation  and 
Royal  Priesthood  who  are  one  with  Christ,  and  Christ  with  them. 
Such  an  one  is  prepared  for  that  General  Confession,  publicly 
made  to  God  and  his  Church,  which  precedes  the  Absolution 
which  the  Bishop,  or  in  his  absence  the  Priest,  is  authorized  to 
pronounce  in  connection  with  the  Holy  Eucharist. 

But  there  are  other  Christians,  who,  in  the  searchings  of  heart 
requisite  for  tliis  high  solemnity,  are  troubled  by  doubts  and  scru- 
5 


34 


A  VOICE 


pies  best  known  to  themselves,  whether  their  souls  are  in  a  fit 
state  of  preparation  for  worthy  receiving.  What  are  these  to  do  ? 
They  do  not  mend  their  condition  by  turning  away  from  the  Holy 
Table.  On  the  contrary,  they  turn  away  from  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  alone  can  pardon  their  sins  and  strengthen  them  to  contend  for 
the  mastery  in  their  fearful  struggle  against  the  world,  the  flesh 
and  the  Devil,  Supposing  they  had  a  bodily  disorder,  under- 
mining their  health,  and  if  unchecked,  bringing  them  down  by 
slow  yet  sure  approaches  to  the  gates  of  death.  In  such  a  case, 
what  would  be  the  dictate  of  common  sense  ]  Would  they  not 
resort  to  a  medical  man  in  whom  they  could  have  confidence,  both 
as  to  skill  and  discretion  ?  Unwilling  to  expose  to  an  unfeeling 
and  pitiless  world  the  infirmities  and  diseases  of  which  they  are 
conscious,  would  they  not  pour  into  the  ears  of  a  physician,  with 
all  the  minuteness  which  their  case  requires,  and  all  the  frankness 
which  he  would  demand,  the  diagnosis  of  their  malady  Yet, 
startling  as  the  assertion  may  appear  to  those  who  use  words  in 
coniined  meanings  and  with  narrow  associations,  this  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  auricular  confession.  By  all  the  rules  of 
honourable  intercourse,  the  physician  is  bound  to  inviolable  se- 
crecy. Many  a  limb  has  been  saved,  and  many  a  life  lengthened 
by  this  confidence.  And  what  is  to  prevent  a  penitent  Chris- 
tian who  wishes  to  approach  the  Lord's  table,  but  is  troubled  with 
doubts  and  fears,  from  pouring  his  troubles  into  the  ears  of  an 
affectionate  and  pious  pastor  who  is  able  to  give  him  godly  coun- 
sel and  advice  for  his  soul's  health  ?  I  am  unable  to  conceive  of 
any  defect  in  this  analogy,  unless  it  be  that  men  are  more  willing 
to  confide  in  a  physician  for  the  benefit  of  their  bodies,  than  they 
are  to  confide  in  a  priest  for  the  benefit  of  their  souls.  But  let  a 
man  be  convinced  that  he  has  no  choice  in  the  matter  j  that  he  has 
to  do  with  men  only  as  the  Ministers  of  God  ;  that  he  must  by 
Confession  lay  open  his  most  secret  sins  before  the  Holy  Ghost, 
whom  he  cannot  deceive  ;  that  he  must  then  come  and  receive  the 
absolution  of  them  in  the  Holy  Communion  :  let  him  once  be  con- 
vinced of  all  this,  and  a  principle  of  faith  is  at  work  within  him, 
far  superior  to  every  other  consideration.  If  he  cannot  convince 
himself  that  in  his  secret  communings  with  his  Maker,  he  is  duly 
prepared  to  receive  those  holy  mysteries,  he  will  go  to  his  spirit- 
ual physician,  whom  he  himself  has  chosen  as  the  earthly  guar- 
dian of  his  soul,  and  open  his  grief.    It  is  the  tenderness  of  a 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


35 


man's  conscience  only,  which  can  render  auricular  confession 
compulsory.  All  attempts  to  enforce  it  will  be  ineffectual.  Like 
the  fable  of  the  traveller,  the  sun  and  the  wind,  the  cloak  will  be 
drawn  tighter  by  violence,  and  voluntarily  thrown  aside  under  the 
warming  rays  of  religious  conviction. 

VII. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  Pastoral  Letter,  and  see  in  what  respects 
it  is  at  variance  with  the  above  statements.  I  am  happy  to  see  so 
many  points  of  agreement,  that  I  despair  not  of  conciliating  your 
approbation,  even  where  we  seem  most  to  differ.  It  would  be 
unbecoming  in  me,  stranger  as  I  am  to  the  questions  at  issue  in 
the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina,  to  say  more  than  this  :  that  what- 
ever agitation  there  may  be,  a  recurrence  to  the  simple  principle 
of  Absolution,  in  the  two  Sacraments  generally  necessary  to  sal- 
vation, will  easily  allay  it.  The  names  of  Ravenscroft  and  Hobart 
are  dear  to  your  Diocese.  Both  came  up  to  the  same  Church 
principles  which  have  ever  been  the  standard  of  Connecticut. 
You  quote  Bishop  Ravenscroft  (p.  28,  29)  "speaking  of  the  ends 
of  the  ministry  towards  the  children  of  God,"  as  saying  "  *  The 
first  is,  the  communication  of  the  Grospel  to  mankind,  in  order  to 
recover  them  from  the  ruin  and  misery  of  sin,  and  from  eternal 
death  as  its  wages.  The  second  is,  to  transact  the  conditions  of 
this  recovery,  receiving  the  submission  of  penitent  sinners,  and  by 
administering  to  such  the  divinely  instituted  pledges  of  pardon  and 
adoption  into  the  family  of  God,' "  &c.  "  Instituted  jyJedges  of  par- 
don and  adoption,'^  says  the  Bishop  ;  and,  I  ask,  what  are  these 
BUT  THE  TWO  Sacraments  1  You  confess  (p.  29)  that  the  Bishop 
"  speaks  incidentally"  as  to  the  purpose  for  which  you  quote  him, 
"not  having  made  priestly  absolution  the  immediate  subject  of 
either  of  the  discourses  which  have  been  cited."  I  have  not  his 
works  to  refer  to  ;  but  I  feel  confident  he  would  have  admitted  no 
priestly  absolution  to  those  who  neglect  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  same  remark  may  be  made  with  regard  to  all  the  quotations 
from  Hooker,  which  occujty  nearly  sixteen  pages  of  the  Pastoral 
Letter,  (32-47.)  Hooker  is  contending  against  the  Papists  as 
well  as  the  Puritans  ;  and  he  expressly  denies  the  papal  doctrine 
that  priestly  absolution,  connected  with  repentance  and  confession, 
is  a  separate  Sacrament.    The  constant  practice  of  the  English 


36 


A  VOICE 


Church,  connecting  all  pardon  of  sin  with  the  Sacraments  of  Bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  Supper,  must  be  our  rule  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  Hooker's  words. 

You  quote  Wheatley,  also  ;  but  I  cannot  see  with  what  purpose. 
His  words  are  very  pertinent,  when  Absolution  is  considered  as  a 
grace  of  the  two  Sacraments.  Neither  he  nor  Hooker  ever  con- 
tended against  that  voluntary  auricular  confession  which  the  offi- 
ces of  the  Church  contemplate ;  though  they  did  contend  against 
that  imperative  and  universal  claim  which  makes  it  a  condition  of 
salvation. 

There  is  another  writer  whose  sermon  you  quote  witli  appro- 
bation, but  who  seems  to  me  to  confound  things  essentially  differ- 
ent. He  speaks  (p.  30)  of  the  ''Judicial  Absolution  of  the  minis- 
ter, ir  the  power  of  executing  Church  discipline;"  but  that  refers 
to  ciu>cs  of  Ecclesiastical  censures,  where  notorious  offenders  are 
to  be  repelled  from  Communion,  until  they  give  evidence  satisfac- 
tory to  God's  holy  Church  that  they  are  truly  penitent  for  their 
sins.  They  are  then  re-admitted  to  Communion.  But  this  is  a 
subject  so  entirely  distinct  from  that  which  we  are  now  consid- 
ering, that  we  may  well  pass  it  by  in  silence.  The  same  writer, 
however,  delivers  an  opinion  concerning  the  "  declaration  of  Absolu- 
tion "  in  our  daily  morning  and  evening  prayer,  so  utterly  at  vari- 
ance with  the  view  I  have  taken,  I  think  it  necessary,  especially 
as  you  adopt  it,  to  say  something  more  on  the  subject. 

That  Absolution  derived  its  origin,  as  we  know,  from  the  Lu- 
therans ;  but  v/hen  you  class  the  early  Lutherans  with  the  Calvin- 
ists  and  Puritans,  and  consider  them  as  opposed  to  the  English 
sacramental  system,  you  do  them  injustice.  In  common  with  all 
the  Theologians  of  the  Latin  Communion  they  were  well  read  in 
the  works  of  St.  Augustin,  the  great  doctor  of  that  Church,  and 
had  imbibed  his  modes  of  thinking.  The  English  divines  were 
equally  well  acquainted  with  his  writings,  but  less  under  his  influ- 
ence, because  the  early  eminence  of  Oxford  for  Greek  learning, 
had  made  them  acquainted  with  the  illustrious  Greek  fathers  of 
the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  This  vv  as  long  before  the  Puritans 
existed,  and  even  before  Calvin  was  born.  The  whole  history  of 
Martin  Bucer  and  of  Peter  Martyr,  their  age,  their  countries,  the 
places  where  they  studied,  exempt  them  from  a  charge  which  noth- 
ing but  a  modern  spirit  of  party  has  framed.  Both  were  men 
when  Calvin  was  a  child.    The  one  was  a  German,  the  other  an 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


37 


Italian.  The  one  was  a  Dominican  Friar,  converted  by  Luther 
at  Worms,  in  1521  ;  the  other  a  Canon  regular  of  St.  Augustin, 
at  Fiesole,  educated  at  Padua,  and  converted  by  Valdez',  a  Span- 
iard, w^hen  he  was  president  of  a  college  at  Naples.  Bucer  was 
with  Hermann,  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  who  wished  to  introduce 
there  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation.  If  we  had  the  prayer- 
book  of  Hermarm,  we  might,  perhaps,  be  able  to  trace  from  it  the 
origin  of  the  changes  introduced  into  the  English  Prayer-Book  of 
1552.  Independent  of  all  such  history,  the  very  analysis  of  the 
Confession  and  Absolution  in  the  morning  and  evening  services, 
shows  that  their  object  was  rather  to  prepare  men's  m.inds  for  the 
more  solemn  Confession  and  the  only  authoritative  Absolution  by 
the  Holy  Eucharist.  Separate  Absolution  from  that  Sacrament, 
and  it  diverges  inevitably  into  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  forms 
of  error.  To  a  mixed  congregation  it  is  an  unmeaning  act ;  to 
a  penitent,  in  secret  confession,  it  is  another  and  an  unauthorized 
Sacrament.  It  leads,  in  both  cases,  to  the  neglect  of  the  true  Sa- 
crament. If  a  man  can  be  absolved  without  coming  to  the  Eu- 
charist, why  should  he  come  ]  If  he  can  be  absolved  by  the 
Priest  on  private  confession  and  doing  such  penance  as  the  priest 
requires,  why  should  he  come  oftener  than  once  a  year  1 

I  enter  not  into  the  question  respecting  the  English  Office  for  the 
Visitation  of  the  Sick.  1  have  never  felt  myself  at  liberty  to  use 
the  Absolution  which,  in  an  extreme  case,  is  there  permitted  ;  nor 
can  I  do  so  until  it  is  restored  in  our  Office,  for  the  very  same  rea- 
son that  I  do  not  use  the  Athanasian  Creed  in  the  morning  prayer. 
All  Absolution  being  connected  with  the  Holy  Communion,  it  could 
not  be  pronounced  in  England  to  any  but  a  faithful  communicant, 
who  had  shown,  in  the  course  of  a  well-spent  life,  that  he  had  con- 
quered  the  enemies  of  his  salvation,  and  was  going  where  there  is 
laid  up  for  him  a  crown  of  glory. 

And  here  a  question  arises,  of  great  magnitude,  to  which  I  am 
led  by  your  words  at  p.  55:  "'Ceremonies  and  practices'  have 
been  '  introduced,'  I  know,  wholly  '  unauthorized  '  by  the  '  customs 
of  this  Church,'  as  established  by  the  English  reformers."  Do  I 
read  aright  ?  or  is  this  like  the  language  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Corinth- 
ians, only  solemn  irony  ?  Your  subsequent  denial,  (pp.  58,)  *'of  the 
introduction  of  what  are  usually  styled  'novelties' — unusual  bow- 
ings, or  crossings,  or  lighting  of  candles  on  the  altar  in  the  day- 
time"— relieves  me.    But  still  the  question  recurs,  When  we  have 


38 


A  VOICE 


given  uj)  wliat  we  ourselves  approve,  for  the  sake  of  union  and 
peace,  shall  we  not  adhere  to  the  sacrifice  until,  by  mutual  consent, 
the  terms  arc  altered  ?    Such  has  been  the  conduct  of  Connecticut. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  this  Diocese  was  fully  organized  five 
years  before  the  organization  of  the  whole  union  :  that  the  daily 
service  of  England,  excepting  her  state  prayers,  was  its  rule  ;  that 
the  Communion  office  set  forth  by  Bishop  Seabury  in  Convocation, 
was  in  its  arrangement  far  more  agreeable  to  ancient  and  primitive 
usasfe  than  that  we  now  have  ;  and  it  will  be  seen  how  much  Con- 
necticut  sacrificed.  Yet,  from  1790,  when  the  New  Prayer-Book 
was  received,  she  never  violated  the  terms  of  compact.  I  could 
quote,  in  proof  of  this,  her  proceedings  for  man}^  years.  The  Laity 
were  in  general  so  satisfied  with  their  Bishop  and  Clergy,  that  they 
neglected  to  send  deputies  to  the  Annual  Convention.  The  Bishop 
and  Clergy  were  actually  compelled  to  exhort  them  to  comply  with 
the  Constitution  and  Canons  of  1789.  This  they  did  with  the  ut- 
most good  faith.  However  opposed  Bishop  Seabury  was  to  the 
innovations  of  the  American  Prayer-Book,  not  one  jot  or  one  tittle 
of  its  requisitions  was  ever  violated.  Its  options  only  were  consid- 
ered as  coming  within  the  scope  of  Diocesan  Authority. 

It  has  ever  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  wonderful  overruling  of  God's 
providence,  that  the  very  changes  introduced  into  the  American 
Ritual  lead  us  back  to  the  original  arrangements  of  the  English  Re- 
formers in  1549.  Separate  the  Matins  from  the  Communion  Service 
by  any  interval  of  time ;  restore  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist 
on  every  day  for  which  a  Collect  Epistle  and  Gospel  is  especially 
provided :  and  you  have  at  once  the  general  arrangement  of 
Archbishop  Cranmer,  and  the  Convocation  of  1548.  I  speak  from 
my  own  experience  when  I  say  that  the  Morning  Service,  even  as 
it  has  been  lengthened  by  the  subsequent  revisions,  need  not  occu- 
py more  than  half  an  hour.  Let  there  be  a  space  of  time  then 
given,  in  which  the  parishioners  may  be  engaged  in  the  duties  of 
the  Sunday  School,  and  we  have  every  thing  in  proper  harmony. 
During  the  same  time,  the  Priest  might  be  informed  how  many 
would  that  day  present  themselves  for  communion ;  and  this  would 
be  his  guide  in  the  consecration  of  the  elements  so  as  to  avoid  any 
violation  of  the  Rubrics. 

These  suggestions  lead  me  to  notice  the  affirmation  that  "no 
clergyman  in  your  Diocese  is  free  from  the  charge  of  unbrical 
irregularity ;  and  the  expression  of  your  own  conviction  that  the 

/ 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


39 


Church  intended  the  rubrics  rather  as  general  directions,  than  as 
inflexible  laws."  (pp.  58,  60.)  That  there  may  be  cases  of 
necessity  in  which  a  departure  from  the  rubrics  is  inevitable,  no 
one  will  deny  ;  but  these  are  extreme  cases  which  cannot  be  plead- 
ed in  defence  of  irregularity.  If  there  be  a  customary  violation 
of  rubrics,  the  fault  is  in  the  want  of  courage  and  firmness  in  the 
clergy.  As  far  as  my  experience  goes,  the  lait}"  are  generally  dis- 
posed to  obey  the  rubrics,  if  the  reason  of  that  obedience  is  prop- 
erly laid  before  them.  If  I  were  subject  to  the  scrutiny  of  the 
questions  you  have  asked,  I  could  with  a  safe  conscience  have 
answered  them  all  in  the  affirmative. — These  have  I  kept  from  my 
youth  up,  and  have  taught  others  to  keep  them.  Even  in  Boston, 
where  the  puritan  spirit  is  so  dominant,  I  had  very  little  trouble 
in  enforcing  the  general  observance  of  the  rubrics.  I  explained 
their  wisdom  in  the  course  of  a  few  lectures,  which  I  had  occa- 
sion to  repeat  only  once  in  the  course  of  five  years.  When  occa- 
sionally some  new  member  of  my  parish  came  to  commune 
v/ith  gloved  hand,  or  any  other  irreverent  or  unseemly  practice, 
a  gentle  remark  in  private,  explaining  the  practice  of  the 
Church,  was  sufficient  to  remove  all  that  could  offend.  I  have 
never  witnessed  in  England  or  elsewhere,  a  more  devout  recep- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper,  than  such  as  was  common  in  my  own 
parish  ;  and  I  am  bold  to  say  that  many  of  the  Presbyters  of 
Connecticut,  even  in  its  most  rural  districts,  carry  out  the  provis- 
ions of  the  rubrics  with  as  much  care  as  I  have.  Experience  has 
taught  me  through  the  course  of  my  life,  the  value  of  the  maxim 
uttered  by  a  Scots  Presbyterian,  that  in  public  worship,  ichat  is  left 
to  the  discretion  of  the  minister,  is  left  also  to  the  indiscretion  of 
THE  MAN."*  For  this  reason  a  strict  and  even  punctilious  regard 
to  the  rubrics  seems  to  me  the  only  way  of  preserving  that  beauti- 
ful order  in  external  things  which  is  so  conducive  to  internal  har- 
mony. 

But  to  return  to  the  Pastoral  Letter :  there  are  two  or  three 
expressions  which  trouble  me,  because  I  am  unable  to  ascertain 
their  authority  or  precise  meaning.  When  you  say  (p.  62)  that 
"that  doctrine  of  'sacerdotal  absolution' was  cast  into  the  shade 
when  its  true  and  proper  form  was  removed  from  general  use  into 
'the  order  for  the  visitation  of  the  sick,'  "  I  am  constrained  to  ask, 

[*A  letter  from  a  Blacksmith  to  the  Ministers  and  Elders  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland.    2  Edit.  Lond.  1761.    12mo.  p.  42. 


r 


40 


A  VOICE 


When  was  that  form  in  "  ofeneral  use  ]"  or  of  what  "  greneral  use" 
do  you  speak  ]  Certainly  not  in  England.  Mr.  Palmer  has  suffi- 
ciently shown  the  great  antiquity  of  the  form  of  absolution  used 
in  our  Communion  Service,  from  1549  even  to  this  day.*  The 
Absolution  you  speak  of  as  "the  only  true  and  proper  form,"  was 
in  the  Visitation  Office,  then  inseparably  connected  with  the  Com- 
munion of  the  sick,  and  no  where  else,  as  I  can  perceive,  in  the 
Prayer  Book  of  1549. 

Again  :  In  your  account  of  the  interview  with  the  young  cler- 
gymen in  1847,  (p.  67,)  you  say  that  "  washing  to  devote  them- 
selves, soul  and  body,  to  Christ,  agreeable  to  the  *  Evangelical 
Counsels,'  they  offered  me  their  services,"  &c.  What  are  these 
Evangelical  Counsels  so  strongly  marked  %  You  yourself  seemed 
to  have  som.e  suspicion,  from  the  words  of  caution  you  addressed 
to  them,  (p.  68,)  a  caution  so  just  and  so  suitable  to  a  Bishop  of  our 
Church.  The  subsequent  expression,  "Perpetual  members  who 
must  be  unmarried  men,"  requires  some  explanation;  or,  it  may 
lead  to  the  inference  that  these  Evangelical  Counsels  involved  a 
vow  of  celibacy. 

I  have  but  one  more  remark  to  offer  ;  and  that  is  upon  the  note  on 
p.  69.  I  am  as  much  opposed  as  you  can  be  to  unnecessary  contro- 
versy with  the  Romanists ;  but  when  they  continually  attack  us, 
and  continually  seek  to  draw  away  from  the  Church  ignorant  and 
unstable  souls,  we  are  bound  to  repel  their  sophistries,  and  save  our 
brethren  from  the  guilt  of  heresy  and  schism,  by  our  duty  to  Christ, 
by  all  the  obligations  of  our  priesthood,  by  all  that  charity  which 
the  spirit  of  love  engendereth.  There  is  to  be  no  acrimony.  We 
must  contend  for  Christ  with  the  gentleness  and  meekness  of  Christ. 
How  can  they  be  true  members  of  Christ  until  they  have  broken 
down  the  wall  of  separation  raised  by  their  own  hands  in  the  Creed  of 
Pope  Pius  IV.  ?  How  can  they  be  of  the  same  family  with  us,  so 
long  as  they  worship  the  creature,  rather  than  the  Creator,  who, 
alone,  is  God  over  all,  blessed  forever  ? 

VIII. 

I  have  thus,  Right  Reverend  and  dear  Sir,  performed  a  duty 
which  I  think  I  owe,  to  you,  as  a  friend  whom  I  love,  to  the  Apos- 


[*  Antiquities  of  the  English  Ritual,  Vol.  2,  p.  169  ] 


PROM  CONNECTICUT.  41 

tolic  Ministry,  of  which,  though  in  very  different  spheres  of  action, 
we  both  form  a  part,  to  the  Diocese  of  which  I  am  a  member  ;  and 
to  the  true  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  "  reformed, 
protestant  and  free."  I  owe  it  to  you  ;  because  I  am  persuaded 
that  if  you  err,  (and  who  does  not  err  ?)  your  motives  are  to  glorify 
God,  and  promote  the  salvation  of  men.  I  owe  it  to  the  Apostolic 
Ministry,  that  they  may  not  be  blamed  as  taking  too  much  upon 
themselves.  As  ambassadors  of  Christ,  they  beseech  men  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  God;  as  ministers  of  the  Holy  Ghost  they  convey  to  their 
brethren  in  one  common  faith,  the  means  of  reconciliation  and 
grace;  but  they  are  helpers  of  their  joy,  not  having  dominion  over 
their  faith  nor  being  Lords  over  God's  heritage.  (2  Cor.  i.  24 ;  1  Pet. 
V.  3.)  I  say  not  this  as  if  I  thought  you  were  in  league  with  tlie 
spiritual  tyranny  of  Rome  ;  for  you  have  too  often  and  too  pointedly 
expressed  to  me  your  rejection  of  Roman  errors,  to  allow  of  any 
suspicion  that  you  can  be  false  to  your  sacerdotal  and  Episcopal 
vows.  I  speak  only  in  behalf  of  our  ministry,  to  show  that  we  do 
not  arrogate  to  ourselves  more  than  God  has  given  us.  Like  the 
English  reformers  in  1549,  we  wish  only  to  restore  that  holy  con- 
dition of  the  Church,  when  they  who  were  baptized,  continued  stead- 
fastly in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of 
bread,  and  in  prayers.  (Acts  ii,  42.) 

I  have  said  that  I  owe  it  to  the  Diocese  of  Connecticut.  Trained 
up  at  the  feet  of  one  who  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Bishop  Sea- 
bury,  and  his  successor  in  office  ;  of  one  who  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  transactions  of  that  agitated  period  from  1764  to  1813:  of 
one  who,  as  secretary  of  the  clergy,  conducted  the  correspondence 
of  Connecticut  with  the  Hierarchies  of  England  and  Scotland,  and 
with  Bishop  Seabury,  during  his  absence;  of  one  who  was  a  proc- 
tor for  his  brethren  in  the  conciliatory  convention  of  1789,  an 
original  signer  of  its  constitution,  and  employed  in  the  revision  of 
the  Prayer-book  ;  I  have  felt  that  I  could  vindicate  the  firm,  steady 
and  conservative  character  of  this  Diocese,  better  than  almost  any 
living  man.  I  think  I  have  vindicated  it ;  though  for  the  sake  of 
brevity,  I  have  left  much  that  might  be  told,  unsaid.  What  I  have 
said,  however,  may  be  relied  upon  as  certain.  Connecticut  has 
only  to  remain  firm,  and  to  continue  to  carry  on  the  work  which 
her  first  Bishop  and  clergy  began,  and  she  will  be,  by  the  migra- 
tion of  her  sons,  the  mother  of  many  Churches,  professing  the 
Apostolic  faith  whole  and  undefiled. 


42 


A  VOICE 


I  owe  it  lastly  to  the  Church  Catholic  in  these  United  States,  at 
a  moment  when  her  wonderful  growth  has  alarmed  the  fears  and 
jealousies  of  contending  sects,  to  give  my  testimony,  the  result  of 
much  study,  reflection  and  experience,  as  to  her  true  central  posi- 
tion. She  is  equally  remote  from  Sectarianism,  by  whatever  name 
it  may  be  called.  Her  object  is  unity ;  while  sect  implies  divis- 
ion. In  the  language  of  one  who  is  himself  not  far  from  the  king- 
dom of  God,  "  The  spirit  of  Sect,  is  the  spirit  of  Antichrist." 
All  sects,  whether  Papist  or  Protestant,  by  the  very  fact  of  their 
schism,  have  departed  from  the  one  faith,  once  delivered  to  the 
saints.  They  are  only  different  points  in  the  circumt'erence  of 
error,  tending  downward  to  that  lowest  point  in  which  they  will 
unite  and  drop  into  the  abyss  of  Infidelity.  It  is  our  duty  to  pre- 
serve ourselves  from  their  influence,  and  if  any  man  approaches  so 
near  as  to  come  within  their  power  of  attraction,  let  us  feel  for  our 
brother  as  though  he  were  a  wanderer,  endeavour  to  reclaim  him 
from  his  error,  weep  over  his  fall,  and  rejoice  over  his  recovery.* 

"When  the  Son  of  Man  cometh,  shall  he  find  faith  on  the  earth?" 
The  question  implied  a  doubt ;  and  coming  Irom  the  Searcher  of  all 
hearts,  it  should  make  us  tremble.  Yet  it  was  connected  with  a 
parable,  which  taught  that  men  ought  always  to  pray,  and  not  to 
faint.  There  must  therefore  be  no  despondence.  Christ  hath  set 
in  the  body,  some  apostles,  some  prophets,  some  teachers  ;  but  all 
for  the  edification  of  the  body.  Our  course  of  duty  is  plain. 
Through  evil  report,  or  good  report ;  as  deceivers,  and  yet  true ; 
whether  men  will  hear,  or  whether  they  will  forbear.    We  must 

*This  letter  was  finished  and  sent  to  press  several  days  before  the  news 
arrived  of  Dr.  Forbes'  guilt.  The  delay  occasioned  by  the  accumulation  of 
work  in  the  printing  establishment,  at  this  season,  enables,  and  indeed  renders 
it  proper  for  me  to  add  some  i-emarks  upon  an  event  at  which  we  may  well 
mourn,  not  for  ourselves,  but  for  him.  Like  most  of  the  unstable  men  who 
have  left  Jerusalem  for  Samaria,  he  began  as  a  Calvinist,  with  low  and  loose 
views  of  the  Christian  ministry,  regarding  it  rather  as  human  than  as  Divine. 
Else  how  could  he  have  committed  the  awful  sin  of  violating  vows  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  renouncing  orders  conferred  by  the  Holy  Ghost?  He  has 
but  one  or  two  steps  more  to  complete  the  sacrilege.  The  Holy  Ghost  never 
confers  the  same  orders  twice,  any  more  than  He  confers  Baptism  twice.  The 
repetition  of  Orders  as  well  as  of  Baptism,  when  both  have  been  once  validly 
received,  is  ipso  facto  null  and  void.  Such  has  ever  been  the  judgment  of 
the  Catholic  Church;  and  every  time  the  schismatic  body  he  has  joined 
repeats  a  valid  ordination  or  a  valid  Baptism,  it  adds  another  to  the  black 
catalogue  of  its  sins.  Within  the  present  year  this  unhappy  man  wrote  a 
letter  in  which  he  spake  of  his  "  increased  conviction  of  the  Catholicity  of  our 
own  mother. "  Did  he  say  this  sincerely  ?  Or  has  he  become  so  deep  in  the 
morality  of  St.  f! )  Alphonsus  Liguori  as  to  mean  one  thing  while  he  led  his 
abused  correspondent  to  believe  another?  If  he  was  sincere,  what  are  we 
to  think  of  his  stsibility'?    If  insincere,  what  are  we  to  think  of  his  honesty? 


FROM  CONNECTICUT. 


43 


SOW  the  seed  of  God's  word  "  with  measured  step,  and  unabating 
care."  In  our  vast  country  the  Church  is  yet  feeble;  but  there 
are  signs  like  gleams  of  light  on  the  distant  hills,  which  quicken 
the  footsteps  of  hope.  The  intelligent,  the  wise,  the  good  of  all 
parties  among  the  laity,  are  beginning  to  see  that  we  maintain  the 
Catholic  faith  whole  and  undefiled  ;  and  that  there  is  no  other 
principle  of  external  or  internal  unity.  I  have  no  fears  for  the 
Diocese  of  Ravenscroft,  any  more  than  I  have  fears  for  the  Dio- 
cese of  Seabury.  Both,  as  the  dictate  of  a  pure  conscience,  will 
support  their  Bishop,  when,  like  St.  Paul,  he  exhorts  them  to  be 
followers  of  him,  as  he  also  is  of  Christ.  An  accurate  survey  and 
delineation  of  the  bounds  of  right  and  duty,  will  convince  the  laity 
that  when,  like  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  we  magnify  our 
(office,  Rom.  xi,  13,  14,  lit. :  "  glorify  my  ministry"  or  "  service,") 
it  is  that  we  may  excite  their  zeal,  and  promote  their  salvation. 
On  this  subject.  Bishop  Seabury,  though  dead,  yet  speaketh  in 
his  discourse  on  the  duty  of  the  people  towards  Christ's  ministers. 
After  saying  that  "  the  whole  mystery  of  reconciliation  with  God 
through  Christ  is  committed  to  the  ministers  of  Christ,"  he  thus 
proceeds:  "  Hence  arises  a  plain  duty  on  your  part,  namely,  to  re- 
ceive their  instructions,  to  submit  to  their  government,  to  reverence 
their  authority,  to  partake  with  them  in  the  ordinances  of  religion, 
and  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Church  in  faith,  in  discipline,  and 
in  worship.  If  you  attend  not  on  their  ministry,  with  regard  to 
you,  their  appointment  is  vain  ;  if  you  reject  their  government, 
you  reject  the  institution  of  Christ ;  if  you  despise  their  authority, 
you  despise  him  that  sent  them ;  if  you  refuse  to  partake  in  the 
ordinances  of  religion,  you  cut  yourselves  off  from  the  communion 
of  saints  ;  and  if  you  break  the  unity  of  the  Church,  in  faith,  or 
discipline,  or  worship,  you  fall  under  the  condemnation  of  those 
Christians  who  walk  disorderly  and  cause  divisions,  whom  the 
Apostle  advises  us  to  avoid,  lest  the  contagion  of  their  example 
should  infest  the  faithful."  {Discourses,  Vol.  1,  p.  36  ;  Ed.  1793.) 
I  remain. 

Right  Reverend  and  Dear  Sir, 
in  the  best  of  all  bonds, 

the  communion  ot  the  Catholic  Church, 
Your  faithful  friend  and  servant, 

SAMUEL  FARMAR  JARVIS, 

one  of  the  Presbyters  of  Connecticut. 

MlDDLETOWN,   NOVEMBER  ClST,  1849. 

To  the  Right  Reverend  Dr.  Ives,  Bishop  of  North  Carolina. 


A.  C.  GOODMAN  &  CO., 

PUBLISHERS, 

No.  192  iHrnn  Street, 


nave  in  course  of  preparation  a  IVew  Kdition  of  the 


On  pica  type,  corrected  by  the  standard,  and  issued  with  the  certifi- 
cate of  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Connecticut,  which  will  be  equal, 
if  not  superior,  to  any  pubhshed  in  the  country. 


A  full  assortment  of 


IN  ALL  VARIETIES  OF  BINDING, 
Constantly  on  hand. 

 ALSO — 


AND 


AT  WHOLESALE  AND  RETAIL. 


_1LC_.  Religious  pamphlets 


N.C.     204    Zy9     1860-99    v. 2 

No s. 1-13  343074 


